HOLBEIN, HANS, the younger , German painter, son of Hans Holbein the elder, was born at Augsburg in He received the first lessons from his father. In 1515 he went to Basle with his brother Ambrosius and probably worked as an apprentice under Hans Herbst. One of his first patrons is said to have been Erasmus, for whom, shortly after his arrival, he illustrated with pen-and-ink sketches an edition of the Encomium Moriae, now in the museum of Basle. He designed titlepage blocks and initials for new editions of the Bible and classics issued from the presses of Froben and other publishers; and executed some rough painter's work, a schoolmaster's sign in the Basle col lection, a table with pictures of St. Nobody in the library of the University at Zurich. In contrast with these coarse productions, the portraits of Jacob Meyer and his wife in the Basle museum, one of which purports to have been finished in 1516, are miracles of workmanship. Two exquisite studies in silverpoint for these portraits are in the same collection. In 1517 Ambrosius matricu lated in the guild of Basle; Hans went to Lucerne, where he was employed to paint in the house of Jacob Hertenstein. The por trait of young Benedict Hertenstein in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, was executed at this time. In 1519 Holbein reappeared at Basle where he matriculated and, there is every rea son to think, married.
Whether, previous to this time, he took advantage of his vicinity to the Italian border to cross the Alps is uncertain. Van Mander says that he never was in Italy ; yet the spirit of Holbein's com positions for the Basle town hall, the scenery and architecture of his numerous drawings, and the cast of form in some of his imagin ative portraits, make it likely that he should have felt the direct influence of north Italian painting. The Swiss at this period wandered in thousands to swell the ranks of the French or imperial armies fighting on Italian soil, and the road they took may have been followed by Hans on a more peaceful mission. The "Flagella tion," and the "Last Supper" at Basle executed 1519-2o show some acquaintance with Lombard methods of painting, whilst in other pieces, such as the series of the Passion in oil in the same collection, the modes of Hans Holbein the elder are agreeably commingled with a more modern, it may be said Italian, polish. The "Man of Sorrows and the Virgin" are set in Italian Renais sance architecture; the decoration of the walls of the house "Zum Tanz" with simulated architectural features of a florid character is Italian in conception ; and his wall paintings in the town hall, if we can truly judge of them by copies, reveal an artist not un familiar with north Italian com position, distribution, action, ges ture and expression. In his draw ings too, particularly in a set rep resenting the Passion at Basle, the arrangement, and also the perspec tive, form and decorative orna ment, are Italian in spirit. Con temporary with these, however, and almost inexplicably in con trast with them as regards hand ling, are portrait drawings which are finished with German deli cacy, and with a power and sub tlety of hand seldom rivalled in any school. Curiously enough, the same contrast may be observed between painted compositions and painted portraits. The "Boni f acius Amerbach" of 1519 at Basle is acknowledged to be one of the most complete examples of smooth and transparent handling that Holbein ever executed. His versatility at this period is shown by a dead Christ 0521), a corpse in profile, and a set of figures in couples; the "Madonna and St. Pantalus," and "Kaiser Henry with the Empress Kunigunde" (1522), originally composed for the organ loft of the Basle cathedral, now in the Basle museum. Equally remarkable, but more attractive, though injured, is the "Virgin and Child between St. Ursus and a bishop," in the gallery of Solothurn. This picture is dated 1522, and seems to have been ordered for an altar in the minster of St. Ursus of Solothurn by Nicholas Conrad, a captain and statesman of the 16th century, whose family allowed the precious heirloom to fall into decay in a chapel of the neigh bouring village of Grenchen.
Numerous drawings in the spirit of this picture, and probably of the same period in his career, might have led Holbein's con temporaries to believe that he would make his mark in the annals of Basle as a model for painters of altarpieces as well as a model for pictorial composition and portrait. He was gaining a freedom in draughtsmanship that gave him facility to deal with any sub ject. Though a realist, he was sensible of the dignity and severity of religious painting. His colour had almost all the richness and sweetness of the Venetians. Amongst the portraits which he exe cuted in these years are those of Froben, the publisher, known only by copies at Basle and Hampton Court, and Erasmus, who sat in 1523, as he likewise did in 153o, in various positions, showing his face threequarters as at Longford, Basle, Parma and New York, and in profile as in the Louvre or at Hampton Court. Besides these, Holbein made designs for glass windows, and for woodcuts, including subjects of every sort, from the Virgin and Child with saints of the old time to the Dance of Death, from gospel inci dents extracted from Luther's Bible to satirical pieces illustrating the sale of indulgences and other abuses denounced by reformers. Once only, after 1526, and after he had produced the "Lais" and "Venus and Amor," in the museum at Basle, did Holbein with impartial spirit give his services and pencil to the Roman Catholic cause. The burgomaster Meyer, whose patronage he had already enjoyed, now asked him to represent himself and his wives and children in prayer before the Virgin; and Holbein produced the celebrated altarpiece now in the palace of the ex-grand duke of Hesse at Darmstadt, the shape and composition of which are known to all the world by its copy in the Dresden museum. The drawings for this masterpiece are amongst the most precious relics in the museum of Basle.
The time now came when art began to suffer from unavoidable depression in all countries north of the Alps. Holbein saw that his chances were dwindling to nothing, and armed with letters of intro duction from Erasmus to More, he crossed the Channel to Eng land, where in the one-sided branch of portrait painting he found an endless circle of clients. Eighty-seven drawings by Holbein in Windsor castle, containing an equal number of portraits, of per sons chiefly of high quality, testify to his industry in the years which divide 1528 from They are all originals of pictures that are still extant, or sketches for pictures that were lost or never carried out. Sir Thomas More, with whom he seems to have had a very friendly connection, sat to him for likenesses of various kinds. The drawing of his head is at Windsor. A pen-and-ink sketch, in which we see More surrounded by all the members of his family, is now in the gallery of Basle, and numerous copies of a picture from it prove how popular the lost original must once have been. At the same period were executed the portraits of War ham (Lambeth and Louvre), Wyatt (Louvre), Sir Henry Guild ford (Windsor), Lady Guildford (New York), all finished in 1527, the astronomer Nicholas Kratzer (Louvre), Thomas Godsalve and his son (Dresden) in 1528. Of the portrait of Sir Bryan Tuke (un dated) there are various replicas two of which claim to be original, one in London (Hugh Blaker), the other formerly with Miss Guest of Luny good is in America. In 1528, Holbein returned to Basle, taking to Erasmus the sketch of More's family.
With money which he brought from London he purchased a house at Basle wherein to lodge his wife and children, whose por traits he now painted (1528). Of this time are the fine portrait drawing of a young man in a large soft hat (Basle), the miniature of Melanchthon (Hanover), a,nd the Bible illustrations known as "Icones." He then witnessed the fury of the iconoclasts, who destroyed in one day almost all the religious pictures at Basle. The municipality, unwilling that he should suffer again from the depression caused by evil times, asked him to finish the frescoes of the town hall, and the sketches from these lost pictures are still before us. His "Rehoboam receiving the Israelite Envoys," and "Saul at the Head of his Array meeting Samuel," testify to Holbein's power, also proved at a later period by the "Triumphs of Riches and Poverty," executed for the Steelyard in London (but now lost).
' The year 153o saw him again on the move, and he landed in England for the second time. Here indeed political changes had robbed him of his earlier patrons. The circle of More and Warham was gone. But that of the merchants of the Steelyard took its place, for whom Holbein executed "The Triumphs of Wealth and Poverty" and the long and important series of portraits that lie scattered throughout the galleries and collections of England and the Continent, and bear date after 1532. The fine "Noli Me Tangere" at Hampton court dates from this period. Then came again the chance of practice in more fashionable circles. In the "Ambassadors" (London National Gallery), and the portrait of Thomas Cromwell (New York, Frick collection) were executed. Through Cromwell Holbein probably became attached to the court, in the pay of which he appears permanently after 1537. From that time onwards he was connected with all that was highest in the society of London. Henry VIII. invited him to make a fam ily picture of himself, his father and family, which obtained a post of honour at Whitehall. His portrait of the king (Althorp, Earl Spenser) and the beautiful cartoon of a part of this fine piece at Chatsworth enables us to gauge its beauty before the fire which destroyed it in the 17th century. Then Holbein painted Jane Seymour in state (Vienna) ; he finished the "Southwell" (Uffizi), the "French Ambassador at the court of St. James, Sieur Morette" (Dresden), "Sir Thomas Le Strange" (London, Le Strange), "The Musician" (New York, Henry Goldman), and last, not least, Chris tine of Denmark (London National Gallery) who gave sittings at Brussels in 1538. During the journey which this worked involved. Holbein took the opportunity of revisiting Basle, where he made his appearance in silk and satin, and, pro forma only, accepted the office of town painter. His return to London in autumn enabled him to do homage to the king in the way familiar to artists. He presented to Henry at Christmas a portrait of Prince Edward (Hanover). Again abroad in the summer of 1539, he painted with great fidelity the princess Anne of Cleves, at Duren near Cologne (Louvre). His portraits up to this time all display that uncom mon facility for seizing character which his father enjoyed before him, and which he had inherited in an expanded form. No amount of labour, no laboriousness of finish—and of both he was ever prodigal—betrayed him into loss of resemblance or expression. No painter was ever quicker at noting peculiarities of physiognomy. Yet he was not a child of the 16th century, as the Venetians were, in substituting touch for line. We must not look in his works for modulations of surface or subtle contrasts of colour in juxtaposi tion. His method was to the very last delicate, finished and smooth, as became a painter of the old school.
Amongst the more important creations of Holbein's later time we should note his "Duke of Norfolk" at Windsor. A portrait of "Catherine Howard" discovered in 1909 is with J. H. Dunn in Canada. Two other portraits of 1541 (Berlin and Vienna), the Falconer at the Hague, and John Chambers at Vienna (1542), are noble specimens of portrait art ; most interesting and of the same year is the likeness of Holbein himself, at the Pitti in Florence. Here Holbein appears to us as a man of regular features, with hair just turning grey, but healthy in colour and shape, and evi dently well to do in the world. Yet a few months only separated him then from his death-bed. He was busy painting a picture of Henry the VIII. confirming the Privileges of the Barber Surgeons (Lincoln's Inn Fields), when he sickened of the plague and died after making a will, between Oct. 7 and Nov. in London.
(J. A. C.) The early authorities are Karel Van Mander's Het leven d. Nederl. . . . Schilders (1617) and J. von Sandrart, Accademia Todesca (1675). A. F. G. A. Woltmann, Holbein and seine Zeit (1874) ; G. S. Davies, Holbein (1903) ; A. B. Chamberlain, H. H. the Younger (1913) ; P. Ganz, H. H. der Jungere (Stuttgart and Leipzig, 1912) .