Introductíon
fhe status of Hans Holbcin as one of the urcatcst artists of
sixteenth-ceiitury Eiirope, valiicd by both thc city of Bascl
aiid the rulcr oí England, Hcaiiy VIII, is beyond doubt. Onc
oí the rciativcly íew artists of northcrn European origin
\vhí>se nainc has becn consistcntly praised and recordcd froni
the sixtoenth to the twentieth centuries, he reiiiains. more
than íiee luindred years after liis birth, among the most highly
regai'ded artists oí bis time. Yet the nature of his artistic
aehievement has sometimes been misiinderstood, and in par
ticular the relationship oí his work to the visual culture of
early Tudor England.
Holbein s artistic career has appeared to reflect a división
betsseen the two places in which he worked: Basel from 1515
to Is-''' ;ii"-l again between 1528 and 1531/2; and England in
is2''>-'"^ from 1531/2 until his death in 1543. Like most
Eunipean painters oí the peri(sd. he had begun his career
without specialization, probably working with his father Hans
Holbein the Eider in Augsburg, southern (lermany, where he
was born in 1497 or 149S. In Basel he established himself early
on as a designer oí small woodcuts and of large muráis, of
both religious and secular suhjects. He also painted altarpieces,
but relatively íew portraits. In England Holbein produced a
great many portraits, but he was also a painter of decorative
paintings and muráis, ncnv lost, and a designer of goldsmiths"
work and woodcuts. Interpretation of Holbeins career has
tended to create an unnecessary gulf between his work in
Basel and his work in England, viewed too frequentlv as ,1
eountry proíbundly separated from continental Europe, abo\e
all in artistic matters. Holbein was a highlv sophisticated
painter, ilraughtsm.m aiul ilesigner. In the decade before he
left Basel for England he extendeil the possibilities of the
liepu tion oí depth ,iiul mowment m sp.iee. e.xplored the
m.inipulation oí re.ility, aiitl created a painting techimiue that
wouKl exjsress greater subtieties of light and shatle and an
/./i/z/e /'''i," I l.m^ I li)lt)iiii tiu' Yi nmuit. ri.hiiiii^ (det.iil ot tiy,
increased range and depth of colour. His work in England.
though it consisted largely of portraiture. built on. rather than
ignored such possibilities.
Holbein s reputation in Basel. where he became a citizen
in 1519. was made as a house painter oí a most spectacular
kind: copies of the works of this period. now lost, record peas-
ants dancing along narrow gutterings. musicians leaning ovei
balconies and. most alarmingly. a rider threatening to jump
his rearing horse from high out into the street below (fig. O-
Such painted íayades were not new: they were prevalent
in southern Germany. Switzerland and Austria, and in the
fifteenth century artists had painted them with not only dec
orative motifs but also figures placed within a írainework oí
íalse architecture. Holbein. with his knowledge ot the Kenais-
sance architectural repertoire and. abox'e all. his extraendinarx
facility m the representation of moving figures from all .ingles,
took the conwntion oí illusionistic wall painting to its limits.
giving buildings the appearance oí a series oí pierced skins.
Holbein was capable oí work on any scale. It is a remaik-
able aspect of his art that his designs for the íacades oí build
ings are as authoritatix e as the smallest oí his woodcuts. just
as. later on. his portrait miniatures, when enlarged to the scalt
of the full-size portraits, maintain an entirely convincing
solidity and sense oí design. His designs íor Basel piintcis.
notably the series oí the ¡^tvicc oj I^CíUU and that oí thc
lisiiiniciil. both designed in the !520s but not published íoi
another decade, show in abundance his mastery oí composi-
tion, here on a miniature scale. Above all, the figures in thc se
woodcuts display the charactenstic sense oí moxemciit with
wlnch Holbein endows them. and which plaved an iiicre.is-
inglv pivotal role in all his artistic prodiiction, includmg his
portr.iits.
In the IXtihc oj DdUlt wciodcuts a nun distrae ted by a voung
man plaxing a guit.ir. turns awa\ from her decauions and m