Commonly referred to as Younger Hans Holbein, Holbein was the son of Hans Holbein the Elder, an accomplished late gothic painter. He was born in Augsburg, Germany, and took after his father to become a painter, also branching out into other mediums such as woodcut printing.
As a young journeyman he traveled to the city of Basel in Switzerland to begin his work as an artist in 1515. Apprenticing under Hans Herbster along with his brother, he took a shine to portraiture. After his apprenticeship, Holbein decided to travel to study art further, including trips to France and Italy.
His art style continued to evolve as he traveled due to the combination of various regional styles but he eventually married a widow and settled down in Basel. This did not last long, as he decided to go to England in 1526 where he was commissioned to paint portraits of nobles and statesmen, like Thomas Moore (pictured below).
He soon became well known for his striking observational skills and detail-oriented portraits. Holbein did religious-oriented pieces like many of the other artists at the time, but it sent mixed messages; some paintings were pro-Lutheran and others were distinctly individualistic and anti-Lutheran.
After he began painting statesmen his portraits became highly demanded, and by 1533 he was in service of English royalty: King Henry VIII. He painted various portraits of the King, as well as many of his wives, such as Jane Seymour, Anne of Cleves and Catherine Howard.
One of Holbien’s most famous pieces is his portrait of Anne of Cleves (pictured below). The story behind this portrait is that Henry VIII hired Holbein to paint portraits of Anne and her sister, who he was considering for marriage. His statesmen told him of Anne’s beauty and quiet nature, and after seeing Holbein’s beautiful portrait, King Henry requested her for his wife. When he saw her for the first time, he was disappointed, and the marriage was left unconsummated and they divorced shortly after they were married. This hurt Holbein’s reputation somewhat as he was previously known for his accuracy and if the King was disappointed after seeing such a flattering portrait, many people believed Holbien must have lost his touch. I do not think this was the case; I think King Henry was just a pig.
Hans Holbein had a large body of work, upwards of 250 pieces. Not much was known about Holbeins personal life or opinions as most of his work was purely observational and lacked any emotion or personal symbolism. He died of the plague in 1543 in his mid-40’s.
I personally appreciate Hans Holbein’s work. As someone who has portraits making up a prominent portion of their body of work, it’s definitely nice to see that one of the most prominent painters of the Renaissance was able to make a name for himself doing so.
