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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 Poverty--The great Morett portrait;
 identifications--Holbein's industry and fertility--Designs for
 metal-work and other drawings--Solomon and the Queen of Sheba         114


CHAPTER IV

PAINTER ROYAL (1536-1543)

 Queen Jane Seymour--Death of Erasmus, and title-page portrait--The
 Whitehall painting of Henry VIII.--Munich drawing of Henry VIII.--Birth
 of an heir and the "Jane Seymour Cup"--Death of the Queen--Christina,
 Duchess of Milan--Secret service for the King--Flying visit to Basel and
 arrangements for a permanent return--Apprentices his son Philip at
 Paris--Portrait of the Prince of Wales and the King's return gift--Anne
 of Cleves--Thomas Howard, Duke of Norfolk--Catherine Howard--Lapse
 of Holbein's Basel citizenship--Irregularities--Provision for wife
 and children--Residence in London--Execution of Queen Catherine
 Howard--Marriage of Catherine Parr--Dr. Chamber--Unfinished work
 for the Barber-Surgeons' Hall--Death of Holbein--His will--Place of
 burial--Holbein's genius: its true character and greatness            156

CATALOGUE OF PRINCIPAL EXISTING WORKS                                  188

REFERENCES                                                             189

INDEX                                                                  199




LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

 1. HOLBEIN      _Frontispiece_
    Self Portrait. From a photograph in the Rischgitz Collection.

 2. "PROSY" AND "HANS" HOLBEIN                                          16
    Drawn by their father, Hans Holbein the elder. Silver-point.
    (Berlin Cabinet.)

 3. SCHOOLMASTER'S SIGNBOARD                                            26
    Oils. (Basel Museum.)

 4. JACOB MEYER (ZUM HASEN)                                             31
    Oils. (Basel Museum.) From a photograph in the Rischgitz Collection.

 5. DOROTHEA MEYER (nee KANNEGIESSER)                                   31
    Oils. (Basel Museum.) From a photograph in the Rischgitz Collection.

 6. BONIFACIUS AMERBACH                                                 46
    Oils. (Basel Museum.)

 7. FIGHT OF LANDSKNECHTE                                               58
    Washed drawing. (Basel Museum.) From a Photograph in the
    Rischgitz Collection.

 8. THE NATIVITY                                                        72
    Oils. (University Chapel, Freiburg Cathedral.)
    From a photograph by G. Roebke, Freiburg.

 9. THE PASSION                                                         74
      I. GETHSEMANE.                    II. THE KISS OF JUDAS.
    III. BEFORE PONTIUS PILATE.         IV. THE SCOURGING.
      V. THE MOCKING.                   VI. THE WAY TO CALVARY.
    VII. "IT IS FINISHED."            VIII. THE ENTOMBMENT.
    Eight-panelled Altar-piece. (Basel Museum.)

10. CHRIST IN THE GRAVE                                                 78
    Oils. (Basel Museum.)

11. THE RISEN CHRIST                                                    82
    Oils. (Hampton Court Gallery.)

12. THE SOLOTHURN, OR ZETTER'SCHE, MADONNA                              86
    Oils. (Solothurn Museum.) From a photograph by
    Braun, Clement, and Cie., Paris.

13. UNNAMED PORTRAIT-STUDY; NOT CATALOGUED AS HOLBEIN'S                 94
    Silver-point and Indian ink. (Louvre Collection. Believed
    by the writer to be Holbein's drawing of his wife before
    her first marriage, and the model for the Solothurn Madonna.)
    From a photograph by Braun, Clement, and Cie., Paris.

14. ERASMUS                                                             98
    Oils. (The Louvre.) From a photograph by A. Giraudon, Paris.

15. THE PLOUGHMAN; THE PRIEST                                          102
    "Images of Death." Woodcut series.

16. DOROTHEA OFFENBURG AS THE GODDESS OF LOVE                          104
    Oils. (Basel Museum.) From a photograph in the Rischgitz Collection.

17. DOROTHEA OFFENBURG AS LAIS CORINTHIACA                             106
    Oils. (Basel Museum.) From a photograph in the Rischgitz Collection.

18. THE MEYER-MADONNA                                                  109
    Oils. (Grand Ducal Collection, Darmstadt.)
    From a photograph by F. Hanfstaengl.

19. THE MEYER-MADONNA                                                  109
    (Later Version. Held by many to be a copy.) Oils.
    (Dresden Gallery.) From a photograph by F. Hanfstaengl.

20. SIR THOMAS MORE                                                    116
    Chalks. (Windsor Castle.) From a photograph by F. Hanfstaengl.

21. JOHN FISHER, BISHOP OF ROCHESTER                                   118
    Chalks. (Windsor Castle.) From a photograph by F. Hanfstaengl.

22. SIR HENRY GUILDFORD                                                120
    Oils. (Windsor Castle.) From a photograph by F. Hanfstaengl.

23. NICHOLAS KRATZER                                                   122
    Oils. (The Louvre.)

24. SIR BRYAN TUKE                                                     124
    Oils. (Munich Gallery.) From a photograph by F. Hanfstaengl.

25. ELSBETH, HOLBEIN'S WIFE, WITH THEIR TWO ELDEST CHILDREN            126
    Oils. (Basel Museum.) From a photograph in the Rischgitz Collection.

26. "BEHOLD TO OBEY IS BETTER THAN SACRIFICE." SAMUEL DENOUNCING SAUL  134
    Washed drawing. (Basel Museum.)
    From a photograph in the Rischgitz Collection.

27. JOeRG (OR GEORGE) GYZE                                              142
    Oils. (Berlin Museum.) From a photograph by F. Hanfstaengl.

28. "THE AMBASSADORS"                                                  146
    Oils. (National Gallery.) From a photograph by F. Hanfstaengl.

29. THE MORETT PORTRAIT                                                152
    Oils. (Dresden Gallery.) From a photograph by F. Hanfstaengl.

30. QUEEN JANE SEYMOUR                                                 158
    Oils. (Vienna Gallery.) From a photograph by F. Hanfstaengl.

31. KING HENRY VIII. AND HIS FATHER                                    160
    Fragment of cartoon used for the Whitehall wall-painting.
    (Duke of Devonshire's Collection.)

32. KING HENRY VIII.                                                   162
    (Life Study; probably for the Whitehall Painting.)
    Chalks. (Munich Collection.) From a photograph by F. Hanfstaengl.

33. DESIGN FOR THE "JANE SEYMOUR CUP"                                  164
    (Bodleian Library.)

34. CHRISTINA OF DENMARK, DUCHESS OF MILAN                             166
    Oils. (National Gallery.) Lent by the Duke of Norfolk.

35. ANNE OF CLEVES                                                     172
    Oils. (The Louvre.) From a photograph by A. Giraudon, Paris.

36. THOMAS HOWARD, THIRD DUKE OF NORFOLK                               174
    Oils. (Windsor Castle.) From a photograph by F. Hanfstaengl.

37. CATHERINE HOWARD                                                   176
    Chalk drawing. (Windsor Castle.)

38. DR. CHAMBER                                                        180
    Oils. (Vienna Gallery.) From a photograph by F. Hanfstaengl.




HOLBEIN[1]




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