akin to that of Memlinc and other followers of the schools of Brussels and Bruges, but he probably modified the systems of those schools by studying the works of the masters of Cologne. As these early impressions waned, they were replaced by others less favourable to the expansion of the master’s fame; and as his custom increased between 1499 and 1506, we find him relying less upon the teaching of the schools than upon a mere observation and reproduction of the quaintnesses of local passion plays. Most of his early works indeed are taken from the Passion, and in these he obviously marshalled his figures with the shallow stage effect of the plays, copying their artificial system of grouping, careless to some extent of proportion in the human shape, heedless of any but the coarser forms of expression, and technically satisfied with the simplest methods of execution. If in any branch of his art he can be said to have had a conscience at this period, we should say that he showed it in his portrait drawings. It is seldom that we find a painted likeness worthy of the name. The drawings of which numbers are still preserved in the galleries of Basel, Berlin and Copenhagen show extraordinary quickness and delicacy of hand, and a wonderful facility for seizing character; and this happily is one of the features which Holbein bequeathed to his more famous son, Hans the younger. It is between 1512 and 1522 that Holbein tempered the German quality of his style with some North Italian elements. A purer taste and more pleasing realism mark his work, which in drapery, dress and tone is as much more agreeable to the eye as in respect of modelling and finish it is smoother and more carefully rounded. Costume, architecture, ornament and colour are applied with some knowledge of the higher canons of art. Here, too, advantage accrued to Hans the younger, whose independent career about this time began.
The date of the elder Holbein’s birth is unknown. But his name appears in the books of the tax-gatherers of Augsburg in 1494, superseding that of Michael Holbein, who is supposed to have been his father. Previous to that date, and as early as 1493, he was a painter of name, and he executed in that year, it is said, for the abbey at Weingarten, the wings of an altarpiece representing Joachim’s Offering, the Nativity of the Virgin, Mary’s Presentation in the Temple, and the Presentation of Christ, which now hang in separate panels in the cathedral of Augsburg. In these pieces and others of the same period, for instance in two Madonnas in the Moritz chapel and castle of Nuremberg, we mark the clear impress of the schools of Van der Weyden and Memlinc; whilst in later works, such as the Basilica of St Paul (1504) in the gallery of Augsburg, the wane of Flemish influence is apparent. But this altarpiece, with its quaint illustrations of St Paul’s life and martyrdom, is not alone of interest because its execution is characteristic of old Holbein. It is equally so because it contains portraits of the master himself, accompanied by his two sons, the painters Ambrose (c. 1494–c. 1519) and Hans the younger. Later pictures, such as the Passion series in the Fürstenberg gallery at Donaueschingen, or the Martyrdom of St Sebastian in the Munich Pinakothek, contain similar portraits, the original drawings of which are found in old Holbein’s sketch-book at Berlin, or in stray leaves like those possessed by the duke of Aumale in Paris. Not one of these fails to give us an insight into the character, or a reflex of the features, of the members of this celebrated family. Old Holbein seems to ape Leonardo, allowing his hair and beard to grow wildly, except on the upper lip. Hans the younger is a plain-looking boy. But his father points to him with his finger, and hints that though but a child he is clearly a prodigy.
After 1516 Hans Holbein the elder appears as a defaulter in the registers of the tax-gatherers at Augsburg; but he willingly accepts commissions abroad. At Issenheim in Alsace, where Grünewald was employed in 1516, old Holbein also finds patrons, and contracts to complete an altarpiece. But misfortune or a bailiff pursues him, and he leaves Issenheim, abandoning his work and tools. According to Sandrart, he wanders to Basel and takes the freedom of its gild. His brother Sigismund and others are found suing him for debt before the courts of Augsburg. Where he lived when he executed the altarpiece, of which two wings with the date of 1522 are in the gallery of Carlsruhe, is uncertain; where he died two years later is unknown. He slinks from ken at the close of a long life, and disappears at last heeded by none but his own son, who claims his brushes and paints from the monks of Issenheim without much chance of obtaining them. His name is struck off the books of the Augsburg gild in 1524.
The elder Holbein was a prolific artist, who left many pictures behind him. Earlier than the Basilica of St Paul, already mentioned, is the Basilica of St Mary Maggiore, and a Passion in eleven pieces, in the Augsburg gallery, both executed in 1499. Another Passion, with the root of Jesse and a tree of the Dominicans, is that preserved in the Staedel, Saalhof, and church of St Leonard at Frankfort. It was executed in 1501. The Passion of Donaueschingen was finished after 1502, in which year was completed the Passion of Kaisheim, a conglomerate of twenty-seven panels, now divided amongst the galleries of Munich, Nuremberg, Augsburg and Schleissheim. An altarpiece of the same class, commissioned for the monastery of St Moritz at Augsburg in 1504–1508, has been dispersed and lost. 1512 is the date of a Conception in the Augsburg gallery, long assigned, in consequence of a forged inscription, to Hans Holbein the younger. A diptych, with a Virgin and Child, and a portrait of an old man, dated 1513, came in separate parts into the collections of Mr Posonyi and Count Lanckoronski at Vienna. The sketch-books of Berlin, Copenhagen and Augsburg give a lively picture of the forms and dress of Augsburg residents at the beginning of the 16th century. They comprise portraits of the emperor Maximilian, the future Charles V., Kunz von der Rosen, the fool of Maximilian, the Fuggers, friars, merchants, and at rare intervals ladies.
See also the biography by Stödtner (Berlin, 1896).
HOLBEIN, HANS, the younger (1497–1543), German painter,
favourite son of Hans Holbein the elder, was probably born at
Augsburg about the year 1497. Though Sandrart and Van
Mander declare that they do not know who gave him the first
lessons, he doubtless received an artist’s education from his
father. About 1515 he left Augsburg with Ambrose, his elder
brother, to seek employment as an illustrator of books at Basel.
His first patron is said to have been Erasmus, for whom, shortly
after his arrival, he illustrated with pen-and-ink sketches an
edition of the Encomium Moriae, now in the museum of Basel.
But his chief occupation was that of drawing titlepage-blocks
and initials for new editions of the Bible and classics issued
from the presses of Froben and other publishers. His leisure
hours, it is supposed, were devoted to the production of rough
painter’s work, a schoolmaster’s sign in the Basel collection,
a table with pictures of St Nobody in the library of the university
at Zürich. In contrast with these coarse productions, the portraits
of Jacob Meyer and his wife in the Basel museum, one of which
purports to have been finished in 1516, are miracles of workmanship.
It has always seemed difficult indeed to ascribe such
excellent creations to Holbein’s nineteenth year; and it is
hardly credible that he should have been asked to do things
of this kind so early, especially when it is remembered that
neither he nor his brother Ambrose were then allowed to matriculate
in the guild of Basel. Not till 1517 did Ambrose, whose
life otherwise remains obscure, join that corporation; Hans,
not overburdened with practice, wandered into Switzerland,
where (1517) he was employed to paint in the house of Jacob
Hertenstein at Lucerne. In 1519 Holbein reappeared at Basel,
where he matriculated and, there is every reason to think,
married. Whether, previous to this time, he took advantage of
his vicinity to the Italian border to cross the Alps is uncertain.
Van Mander says that he never was in Italy; yet the large
wall-paintings which he executed after 1519 at Basel, and the
series of his sketches and pictures which is still extant, might
lead to the belief that Van Mander was misinformed. The
spirit of Holbein’s compositions for the Basel town hall, the
scenery and architecture of his numerous drawings, and the cast
of form in some of his imaginative portraits, make it more
likely that he should have felt the direct influence of North
Italian painting than that he should have taken Italian elements
from imported works or prints. The Swiss at this period
wandered in thousands to swell the ranks of the French or
imperial armies fighting on Italian soil, and the road they took
may have been followed by Hans on a more peaceful mission.
He shows himself at all events familiar with Italian examples
