Historical Figures Codexery

Hans Holbein the Younger

German painter and printmaker, King's Painter to Henry VIII

Hans Holbein the Younger

Hans Holbein the Younger · via Wikipedia: Hans Holbein the Younger · Public domain

His portraits were renowned for their likeness, and he embedded layers of symbolism, allusion, and paradox in his art.[1] Born in the free imperial city of Augsburg during the winter of 1497–98, Hans Holbein the Younger was a German painter and printmaker whose work was done in Switzerland and England.[2][3] His artistic output included religious art, satire, and Reformation propaganda, and he is regarded as one of the 16th century's finest portraitists, working within a Northern Renaissance style.[4]

Quick Facts

Born
c. 1497
Birthplace
Augsburg, Holy Roman Empire
Died
October or 1543, 11, 1497
Place of death
London, England
Movement
Northern Renaissance
Patrons
Anne Boleyn, Thomas More
Known for
Portraits
Notable works
Portrait of Henry VIII; The Ambassadors

Facts from the source article.

Life and work

In 1517, father and son began a project in Lucerne painting murals for the merchant Jakob von Hertenstein, and Holbein was fined for fighting in the street with a goldsmith.[5] He returned to Basel in 1519, joined the painters' guild, took out citizenship, and married Elsbeth Binsenstock-Schmid.[6][7] He visited France in 1524 and then sought employment in England in 1526, where Erasmus recommended him to Thomas More.[8] He returned to Basel in 1528, bought a house, and painted The Artist's Family, but reduced patronage prompted his return to England in 1532.[9][10][11]

In his second English period, he worked for the Hanseatic merchants and painted The Ambassadors, and by 1536 he was employed as the King's Painter to Henry VIII.[12][13][14] Hans Holbein the Younger, together with his older brother Ambrosius, learned the painter's trade from their father, Hans Holbein the Elder.[3] In 1515, the two brothers relocated to Basel as journeymen painters and became apprentices to Hans Herbster, who was the city's leading painter.[15] Hans Holbein died at age 45, with his death occurring between 7 October and 29 November 1543; Karel van Mander stated in the early 17th century that the cause was the plague.[16]

What the cited sources add

A Guardian article describes Holbein's preparatory drawings as "some of the most startling portraits in existence" and notes that he painted Tudor people against deep blue backgrounds.[17] The same article states that Holbein came to Britain because it was getting harder to work in Basel, where the Reformation frowned on religious art.[17] The Guardian also reports that Holbein's drawing of Thomas More shows a five-o'clock shadow, part of the informality of the work.[17] The BBC notes that Holbein the Younger is depicted in the left-hand panel of his father's altar piece triptych the Basilica of St. Paul, which is displayed at the Staatsgalerie in Augsburg.[18][19]

References

  1. Wikipedia, "Hans Holbein the Younger" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Waterhouse, 17. (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  2. Wikipedia, "Hans Holbein the Younger" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Alastair Armstrong, "Henry VIII: Authority, Nation and Religion 1509–1540" (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  3. Wikipedia, "Hans Holbein the Younger" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Ganz, 1; Wilson, 3. The date is deduced from the age noted by Holbein's father on the portrait of his sons. (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  4. Wikipedia, "Hans Holbein the Younger" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Zwingenberger, 9. (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  5. Wikipedia, "Hans Holbein the Younger" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: See Leaina Before the Judges, a design for a Hertenstein mural.; Bätschmann and Griener, 11; North, 13. For example: Design for a Stained Glass Window with the Coronation of the Virgin.; Rowlands, 25; North, 13. On another occasion, Holbein was fined for his involvement in a knife fight. (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  6. Wikipedia, "Hans Holbein the Younger" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Müller, et al., 11, 47; Wilson, 69–70. Wilson cautions against too readily accepting that Ambrosius died, since other explanations for his disappearance from th (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  7. Wikipedia, "Hans Holbein the Younger" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Müller, Christian (2006), pp.194–195; "Die Malerfamilie in Basel", 1960, p. 210 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  8. Wikipedia, "Hans Holbein the Younger" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Bätschmann and Griener, 11; Müller, et al., 12, 16, 48–49, 66.; "For a generation or more popular and establishment piety had led to the adornment and embellishment of churches, chapels, and cathedrals. Now there were differ; Letter to Pieter Gillis (Petrus Aegidius), August 1526. Quoted by Wilson, 120. An angel was an English coin. (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  9. Wikipedia, "Hans Holbein the Younger" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Stein, "Holbein der Jüngere", Julius Bard Verlag, 1929, p. 166; Stein, "Holbein der Jüngere", Julius Bard Verlag, 1929, p. 166; Strong, 4.; Holbein, Zeichnungen vom Hofe Heinrichs VIII. p.11; Stein, "Holbein der Jüngere", Julius Bard Verlag, 1929, p. 166 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  10. Wikipedia, "Hans Holbein the Younger" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Bätschmann & Griener, 177.; Rowlands, 76. (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  11. Wikipedia, "Hans Holbein the Younger" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Rowlands, 76.; Strong, 4; Buck, 6. According to a letter written by the Basel student Rudolf Gwalther to the Swiss reformer Heinrich Bullinger in 1538, Holbein "considered con (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  12. Wikipedia, "Hans Holbein the Younger" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Wilson, 184. (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  13. Wikipedia, "Hans Holbein the Younger" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Buck, 98; North, 7. North suggests that the identification of the figure on the right as Dinteville's brother, the Bishop of Auxerre, was a mistake in an invent (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  14. Wikipedia, "Hans Holbein the Younger" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Strong, 5.; Müller, et al., 13, 52; Buck, 112. The precise date is unknown of Holbein's appointment, but he was referred to in 1536 as the "king's painter" in a letter from; Strong, 6; Rowlands, 96; Bätschmann & Griener, 189.; Strong, 5. Strong calls it "arguably the most famous royal portrait of all time, encapsulating in this gargantuan image all the pretensions of a man who cast hi (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  15. Wikipedia, "Hans Holbein the Younger" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Bätschmann & Griener, 104. Basel had allied itself in 1501 with the Swiss Confederates, a group of cantons that had broken free of imperial rule. Many Basel cit; North, 13–14; Bätschmann and Griener, 11; Claussen, 47. Hans Holbein the Elder and his brother Sigmund also moved away from Augsburg at about this time, but the; Sander, 14.; Zwingenberger, 13; Wilson, 30, 37–42. For example: A Scholar Treads on a Basket of Eggs and Folly Steps Down from the Pulpit. (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  16. Wikipedia, "Hans Holbein the Younger" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Wilson, 277 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  17. Jones, "'Some of the most startling portraits in existence': Hans Holbein's mini masterpieces", The Guardian, 25 October 2023. facts only, no text reused. theguardian.com
  18. "BBC – Basilica of St Paul by Holbein the Elder – BBC Arts – Paintings featured in Holbein: Eye of the Tudors", BBC. facts only, no text reused. bbc.co.uk
  19. Wikipedia, "Hans Holbein the Younger" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "BBC – Basilica of St Paul by Holbein the Elder – BBC Arts – Paintings featured in Holbein: Eye of the Tudors", BBC (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org

Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article Hans Holbein the Younger (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.

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