Hans Holbein the Younger

Hans Holbein was from a respected family of painters

Hans Holbein the Younger was born in 1497 or 1498, most likely in Augsburg, where his father was already working very successfully as an artist, and it was probably in his father’s workshop that the young Hans learnt the foundations of painting. His uncle Sigmund Holbein was also active as a painter, but it is not known if this had any influence on the development of the young Hans Holbein. Hans’ elder brother Ambrosius Holbein was also a painter and draughtsman, and in 1515, the brothers moved to Basel, probably in the hope of receiving well-paid contracts for illustrations in the prospering book-printing city. In fact, Hans Holbein was given the opportunity to artistically illustrate such famous contemporary writings as the novel Utopia by Thomas More, and the Praise of Folly by Erasmus of Rotterdam, which is attributed to the literature of fools. From 1517-1519 Holbein stayed in Lucerne to study and work, and in 1519 had to cope with the early death of his brother Ambrosius. 

Hans Holbein’s most famous works were created in Basel

As a result of his marriage to a tanner’s widow four years his senior, Hans Holbein the Younger was able to join the Basel painter’s guild (Zunft zum Himmel) and in 1520 also acquired citizenship of the city of Basel. The famous painting showing Hans Holbein’s wife and two first-born children, is considered to be one of the first portraits that an artist made of his own family. As a portrait painter, Hans Holbein achieved great fame and even greater mastery; he most frequently portrayed the philosopher Erasmus of Rotterdam, whose writings he had previously illustrated. During the fruitful years in Basel, the artist also created the two famous Madonna paintings: the Darmstadt Madonna and the Solothurn Madonna. By 1521, he enjoyed such great renown that he was commissioned with the painting of the Grossratssaal (council hall) in Basel’s city hall. Like almost no other German artist of his time, Holbein turned to mural painting, but the majority of his murals were lost. 

Protestant iconoclasm drove Holbein to London

Hans Holbein the Younger worked for a time in 1523/24 in France, where King Francis I proved a great patron of the arts, visited England for the first time from 1526 to 1528, and returned once more to Basel in 1528 where the protestant iconoclasm of 1529 made commissions difficult. In London, his friend Erasmus of Rotterdam mediated the acquaintance with Thomas More, who in turn introduced him to King Henry VIII. The English monarch commissioned him with the decorations for the royal marriage to Anne Boleyn and appointed him court painter. Holbein enjoyed the king’s extraordinary art so long until he transfigured his future wife Anne of Cleves a little too much: when Henry saw the real Anne, he felt deceived and forbade his court painter from ever again portraying a member of the royal family. 

Hans Holbein the Younger fell victim to the rampant plague in London on 29 November 1543.