Holbein's wife, Elsbeth, with two of their children, Philipp and Catherina
Ambrosius Holbein, Hans Holbein the Younger's elder brother. A drawing by Hans Holbein the Elder.
Hans Holbein the Elder, Hans Holbein the Younger's father
Hans Herbster, Hans Holbein the Younger's mentor. A portrait by Ambrosius Holbein.
Hans Holbein the Younger's patron, Erasmus
Hans Holbein the Younger's chief, Henry VIII of England, at whose court he worked as a painter
(Cartoon for wall painting in Whitehall)
Cartoon for wall painting in Whitehall
(Oberried Altarpiece, left interior wing)
Oberried Altarpiece, left interior wing
(Oberried Altarpiece, right interior wing)
Oberried Altarpiece, right interior wing
Hans Holbein the Younger was born about 1497 in Augsburg, Bavaria, Germany (the Holy Roman Empire at the time). Holbein the Younger was a son of Hans Holbein the Elder, an outstanding painter and draughtsman, known for the works, executed in the Late Gothic style. Holbein's elder brother, Ambrosius, and uncle, Sigmund, were painters as well.
Holbein was certainly first trained as an artist by his father. In 1515, Hans the Younger and his brother, Ambrosius, went to Basel, a leading center of painting and humanistic learning at that time, where they became apprentices of a Swiss painter, Hans Herbster.
Later, Holbein broadened his artistic education by traveling to nothern Italy in 1518 and to southern France in 1524.
The start of Hans Holbein the Younger's career can be counted from 1515, when he started to work independently along with his elder brother, Ambrosius, in Basel first as a journeyman. Holbein's work during the following decade was extremely varied, if also sometimes derivative. He painted altarpieces, portraits and murals and designed woodcuts, stained glass and jewelry. In 1520, he became a citizen of Basel and opened his own workshop. A year later, he executed important mural decorations in the Great Council Chamber of Basel's town hall.
Holbein got acquainted early on with the local publishers and their humanist circle of acquaintances, who provided him with the portrait commissions, including Bonifacius Amerbach and later Desiderius Erasmus (1523). One of his best-known works as a designer, a series of 41 scenes, illustrating the medieval allegorical concept of the "Dance of Death," was produced by him and cut by another artist as early as about 1523 to 1526, but was not published until 1538.
In 1526, Hans Holbein traveled to England, having a letter of introduction from Erasmus to Sir Thomas More, whose portrait Holbein would produce a year later. It was one of his most remarkable works of this period. The artist soon achieved fame and financial success in the country and came back to Basel in 1528, where he continued to work for the town council and receive commissions from local publishers and quite influential patrons. After about 1530, Holbein apparently left almost all religious painting.
The iconoclastic riots, initiated by fanatic Protestants, pushed Hans Holbein to change his residence. In 1532, the artist traveled again to England and settled in London, where he spent almost all last decade of his life, except brief visits to Switzerland. A year after the relocation, Holbein the Younger created the first portraits of court personalities and, by 1537, was officially hired by King Henry VIII of England.
During the last ten years of his life, the artist probably produced approximately 150 portraits, life-size and miniature, depicting the king himself and his spouses, French ambassadors to his court and German merchants. Holbein also worked as a fashion designer for the court. He elaborated designs for all state robes of the king and produced, in addition, more than 250 drawings of various accessories and household items, like buttons, pageant weapons, horse equipment, as well as book covers.
Hans Holbein the Younger is regarded as one of the most influential German artists of his time. An outstanding portraitist of the 16th century, he established certain genre standards, which would influence his successors, including John Bettes the Elder, Rembrandt, Jan Vermeer, van Dyck and Rubens, especially at the turn of the 16th and 17th centuries, when portraiture became one of the most important art form.
Holbein's images of Henry VIII and those of other historical figures, like Erasmus, Thomas More and Thomas Cromwell, became icons of his time and has remained such for posterity. In the late 1520s, Holbein became the first painter in the northern European art, who created a large group portrait, in which the models weren't shown kneeling. This was a life-size group portrait of Thomas More's family.
Hans Holbein the Younger also proved himself to be an important illustrator, making a significant contribution to the history of book design. The "Dance of Death" series, as well as illustrations of Martin Luther's German translation of the Bible, are among the finest examples of his work of this kind.
Sir Thomas Eliot
Portrait of Lady Mary Guildford
Portrait of a Woman
Portrait of Jane Seymour
Studies of the Hands of Erasmus of Rotterdam
Portrait of a Lady, Thought to be Anne Boleyn
Simon George of Quocote
Portrait of Jakob Meyer zum Hasen, Mayor of Basel
Anna Meyer
Study for the Family Portrait of Thomas More
Thomas More
Portrait of Sir Richard Southwell
Queen Mary I Tudor
Portrait of Bishop John Fisher
George Nevill, 3rd Baron Bergavenny
Head of a Woman
Jeanne de Boulogne, Duchess of Berry
Lady Elyot
The Birth of Christ
(Oberried Altarpiece, right interior wing)
The Adoration of the Magi
(Oberried Altarpiece, left interior wing)
Death of the Virgin
The Arrogance of Rehoboam
Portrait of Bonifacius Amerbach
Head of a Female Saint
Portrait of Henry VIII
Portrait of Desiderius Erasmus
Portrait of Benedikt von Hertenstein
Unknown Young Man at His Office Desk
Portrait of a Boy with Blond Hair
Georg Gisze, a German Merchant in London
Diptych with Christ and the Mater Dolorosa
A School Teacher Explaining the Meaning of a Letter to Illiterate Workers
The Body of the Dead Christ in the Tomb
Portrait of an Unknown Lady
Portrait of Henry VIII
Portrait of Margaret Wyatt, Lady Lee
Lady with a Squirrel and a Starling
Sir Henry Wyatt
The Solothurn Madonna
Sir William Butts
Portrait of Derich Born
Portrait of Henry Brandon
Portrait of Simon George of Quocote
The Agony in the Garden
Portrait of a Man with a Letter and Gloves
Portrait of Dr. John Chambers
Portrait of Dirk Tybis
Portrait of a Member of the Wedigh Family
Portrait of Mary Wotton, Lady Guildenford
The Humiliation of the Emperor Valerian by the Persian King Sapor
Portrait of Desiderius Erasmus
Portrait of Erasmus of Rotterdam Writing
The Passion
Solomon and the Queen of Sheba
Jane Seymour
Portrait of Henry VIII
Charity (The Family of the Artist)
Portrait of Edward VI as a Child
Edward, Prince of Wales
Portrait of an Old Man
Portrait of a Boy with Chestnut Hair
Portrait of Jane Pemberton
Death of the Virgin
Portrait of Erasmus of Rotterdam
Portrait of a Woman from Southern Germany
Henry VIII and the Barber Surgeons
Henry VIII and the Barber Surgeons
Portrait of William Warham, Archbishop of Canberbury
Portrait of a Young Man
Erasmus of Rotterdam
Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey
Unknown Gentleman with Music Books and Lute
Portrait of Henry VIII, King of England
Portrait of Thomas Howard
Portrait of a Member of the Wedigh Family
De Vos van Steenwijk
Portrait of 34-year-old Woman
Sir Henry Guildford
Adam and Eve
Leaena Before the Judges
Portrait of Nobleman with a Falcon
Outgoing Ship
Portrait of a Woman
Portrait of Sir Brian Tuke
Portrait of Sir Thomas More
Portrait of Sir Nicholas Carew
The Last Supper
Venus and Amor
Noli Me Tangere
St. John the Baptist
Portrait of Sir Henry Guildford
Self-Portrait
St. Ursula
Duke Anton the Good of Lorraine
Apollo and the Muses on Parnassus
The Triumph of Riches
St. Barbara
Musicians on a Balcony
Portrait of Anne of Cleves
The Ambassadors
Derek Berck
Portrait of Catarina Howard
Portrait of Sir Richard Southwell
Lady Butts
Principles of a Schoolmaster, Teaching Scene for Children
Christina of Denmark
Head of a Male Saint
Portrait of Robert Cheseman
Portrait of Charles Brandon
Madonna of the Burgermeister Meyer
Portrait of Doprothea Meyer, née Kannengiesser
Portrait of Jane Seymour
Portrait of Nicholas Kratzer
Triumph of Wealth
Desiderius Erasmus
Portrait of Sir Nicholas Poyntz
Lais Corinthiaca
Thomas Godsalve of Norwich and His Son, John
Portrait of Thomas Cromwell
Portrait of an Englishwoman
Portrait of Charles de Solier
Edward, Prince of Wales, with Monkey
Mayor Jakob Meyer zum Hasen
Hans Holbein the Younger produced both pro- and anti-Lutheran works before his first trip to England in 1526. After his return to Basel two years later, he was admitted to Protestantism after some hesitation. Holbein's career was closely interwoven with the events of the Reformation. He was patronised by some of its leading figures and produced some fine examples of the new Protestant art. But personally he viewed Protestantism with some distaste, not least for its adverse effect on the artistic traditions, in which he had been raised.
Hans Holbein the Younger was fascinated by the late medieval concepts of death. It was most vividly revealed in his dramatic woodcut series, "Dance of Death" (published in Lyon in 1538), which shows Death, attacking different social classes.
Hans Holbein the Younger was accepted to the Basel Painters' Guild on September 25, 1519.
Quotes from others about the person
John Rowlands: "This striving for perfection is very evident in his portrait drawings, where he searches with his brush for just the right line for the sitter's profile. The critical faculty in making this choice and his perception of its potency in communicating decisively the sitter's character is a true measure of Holbein's supreme greatness as a portrait painter. Nobody has ever surpassed the revealing profile and stance in his portraits: through their telling use, Holbein still conveys across the centuries the character and likeness of his sitters with an unrivalled mastery."
Susan Foister, an art historian: "Holbein had no real successors and few imitators in England. The disparity between his subtle, interrogatory portraits of men and women, whose gazes follow us, and the stylised portraits of Elizabeth I and her courtiers can seem extreme, the more so as it is difficult to trace a proper stylistic succession to Holbein's work to bridge the middle of the century."
Hans Holbein the Younger married a widow, Elsbeth Binsenstock-Schmid, in 1520. Having an infant son from a previous marriage, she gave birth to four other children, Philipp, Jacob, Catherina and Küngold.
It's also important to note, that Hans had two more illegitimate children in England.
Hans Holbein the Elder (born about 1460 – died 1524) was an accomplished painter of the Late Gothic school.
Elsbeth Schmid-Holbein (born Binzensock-Schmid 1495 – died 1549) was a few years older, than Holbein.
Ambrosius Holbein (born about 1494 – died about 1519) was a German painter and printmaker. He barely lived to his mid-twenties and left behind a small body of work.
(born 1475 – died November 18, 1540)
(born 1522 – died 1600)
(born about 1529)
(born about 1526)
(born about 1530)
(born 1470 – died November 10, 1552)
Erasmus (born October 28, 1466 – died July 12, 1536) was a Dutch scholar of the northern Renaissance, writer and humanist. He was also known as the first editor of the New Testament and an important figure in patristics and classical literature.
Henry VIII (born June 28, 1491 – died January 28, 1547) was King of England from April 22, 1509 to January 28, 1547.
