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  Illustration: _Hans Holbein the Younger_
 _Coloured Chalks. Basel Museum_




LITTLE BOOKS ON ART
GENERAL EDITOR: CYRIL DAVENPORT




HOLBEIN

BY
BEATRICE FORTESCUE

WITH FORTY-SIX ILLUSTRATIONS


METHUEN & CO.
36 ESSEX STREET W.C.
LONDON


_First published in 1904_




CONTENTS



CHAPTER I

HOLBEIN'S PERIOD, PARENTAGE, AND EARLY WORK

  Historical epoch and antecedents--Special conditions and character
  of early Christian art--Ideals and influence of the monk--Holbein's
  relation to mediaeval schools--His father, uncle, and Augsburg
  home--Probable dates for his birth and his father's death--Troubles
  and dispersion of the Augsburg household--From Augsburg to Basel--His
  brother Ambrose--Erasmus and the _Praise of Folly_; some erroneous
  impressions of both--Erasmus and Holbein no Protestants at
  heart--Holbein and the Bible--Illustrated Vernacular Bibles in
  circulation before Luther and Holbein were born--Holbein's earliest
  Basel oil-paintings--Direct and indirect education--Historical,
  geographical, and scientific revolutions of his day--Beginning of
  his connection with the Burgomaster of Basel--Jacob Meyer zum
  Hasen--Holbein's woodcuts--His studies from nature--Sudden visit
  to Lucerne--Italian influence on his art--Work for the Burgomaster
  of Lucerne                                                           1


CHAPTER II

HOLBEIN BASILIENSIS (1519-1526)

  _Holbein Basiliensis_--Enters the Painters' Guild--Bonifacius
  Amerbach and his portrait--The Last Supper and its Judas--The so-called
  "Fountain of Life" at Lisbon--Genius for design and symbolism in
  architecture--Versatility, humour, fighting scenes--Holbein becomes a
  citizen and marries--Basel in 1519--Froben's circle--Tremendous events
  and issues of the time--Holbein's religious works--The Nativity and
  Adoration at Freiburg--Hans Oberriedt--The Basel Passion in eight
  panels--Passion Drawings--Christ in the tomb--Christ and Mary Magdalen
  at the door of the sepulchre--Rathaus wall-paintings--Birth of
  Holbein's eldest child--The Solothurn Madonna: its discovery and
  rescue--Holbein's wife and her portraits--Suggested solutions of
  some biographical enigmas--Title pages--Portraits of Erasmus--Journey
  to France, probably to Lyons and Avignon--Publishers and pictures of
  the so-called "Dance of Death"--Dorothea Offenburg as Venus and Lais
  Corinthiaca--Triumph of the Protestant party--Holbein decides to
  leave Basel for a time--The Meyer-Madonna of Darmstadt and Dresden,
  and its portraits                                                     45


CHAPTER III

CHANCES AND CHANGES (1526-1530)

 First visit to England--Sir Thomas More: his home and portraits--The
 Windsor drawings--Bishop Fisher--Archbishop Warham--Bishop
 Stokesley--Sir Henry Guildford and his portrait--Nicholas Kratzer--Sir
 Bryan Tuke--Holbein's return to Basel--Portrait-group of his wife and
 two eldest children; two versions--Holbein's children, and families
 claiming descent from him--Iconoclastic fury--Ruined arts--Death of
 Meyer zum Hasen--Another Meyer commissions the last paintings for
 Basel--Return to England--Description of the Steelyard--Portraits of
 its  members--George Gysze--Basel Council summons Holbein home--"The
 Ambassadors" at the National Gallery; accepted identification--Coronation
 of Queen Anne Boleyn--Lost paintings for the Guildhall of the Steelyard;
 the Triumphs of Riches and