Born – Augsburg, Germany c.1497 – 1498
Died – London, England 1543
Hans Holbein trained in his father’s studio in Augsburg, a place famous for its goldsmiths. The Reformation had affected a crisis within the creative and decorative arts; knowledge of the Renaissance filtering into the North from Italy was welcomed by artists. By 1516 Holbein was painting portraits exquisitely rendered into a realistic manner, in about 1520 he was the leading painter in Basel. However, the turmoil caused by the Reformation influenced a decline in patronage and Holbein’s departure for England in 1526. Letters of recommendation from eminent scholar, Erasmus of Rotterdam, led to Sir Thomas More become Holbein’s patron. The group family portrait that followed, of full-length figures in heir own home, was a landmark in European painting. After a brief return to Basel in 1528, Holbein again worked in England from 1532. He found new patrons in the German Steelyard Merchants for whom he painted several portraits, including one of Georg Gisze. By 11536 he was official Court Painter to Henry VIII, providing detailed and vivid records of the period. Despite various decorative and fine art commissions that resulted from court patronage he died without having used the full range of his considerable talents.
Masterpieces:
• The Ambassadors
• Artist’s Wife and Children
Text: The A-Z of Art, Nicola Hodge and Libby Anson.