Hans Holbein the Younger

German, 1497/1498 - 1543

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German artist and printmaker (1497–1543)

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Hans Holbein the Younger, Saint Paul with Book and Sword, 1540, woodcut on laid paper, Rosenwald Collection, 1943.3.4852

Saint Paul with Book and Sword

Hans Holbein the Younger · 1540 · woodcut on laid paper ·  Accession ID  1943.3.4852

Shown from the waist up, a pale-skinned, round-cheeked young boy wears a brocade red and gold garment and hat in this vertical portrait painting. The boy’s body is angled to our left, but he turns his face toward us as he looks slightly down with gray eyes. He has a square face with a high forehead, faint brows, a small, rounded nose, bow-shaped pink lips, and a pointed chin. A fringe of pale blond hair lines the top of his head under a gold cap that ties under his chin. A white feather drops off the edge of a red disk around the top of the hat. His brilliant red garment is lined with gold bands, and the sleeves split over voluminous gold sleeves, which are lined with white ruffles at the wrists. The boy is behind a ledge draped with a crinkled, emerald-green cloth. He rests one hand on the ledge and holds a gold orb on a stick in that hand. His other hand hovers over the ledge with the palm facing out. The background is late gray. A strip of paper affixed to the front face of the ledge has eight lines of Latin text in all caps. It reads, “PARVVLE PATRISSA, PATRIÆ VIRTVTIS ET HÆRES ESTO, NIHIL MAIVS MAXIMVS ORBIS HABET. GNATVM VIX POSSVNT COELVM ET NATVRA DEDISSE, HVIVS QVEM PATRIS, VICTVS HONORET HONOS. ÆQVATO TANTVM, TANTI TV FACTA PARENTIS, VOTA HOMINVM, VIX QVO PROGREDIANTVR, HABENT VINCITO, VICISTI. QVOT REGES PRISCVS ADORAT ORBIS, NEC TE QVI VINCERE POSSIT, ERIT. Ricard: Morysini. Car:”
Hans Holbein the Younger, Edward VI as a Child, probably 1538, oil on panel, Andrew W. Mellon Collection, 1937.1.64

Edward VI as a Child

Hans Holbein the Younger · probably 1538 · oil on panel ·  Accession ID  1937.1.64

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"Organum Uranicum" and "Organa Planetarum"

Hans Holbein the Younger, Sebastian M. Münster · 1536 · two volumes bound together, containing 23 hand-colored woodcuts, 14 of which have movable volvelles, dials, and pointers ·  Accession ID  2013.153.1

Hans Holbein the Younger, Tantalus, 1535/1540, pen and black ink with watercolors, heightened in gold, on laid paper, Gift of Ladislaus and Beatrix von Hoffmann and Patrons' Permanent Fund, 1998.18.1

Tantalus

Hans Holbein the Younger · 1535/1540 · pen and black ink with watercolors, heightened in gold, on laid paper ·  Accession ID  1998.18.1

Shown from the waist up, a cleanshaven man with pale, peachy skin, wearing a black cap and a voluminous fur-lined, black cloak, is positioned behind a crimson-red ledge or tabletop in this vertical portrait painting. His head and torso nearly fills the composition. His body is angled to our left, and he looks off in that direction with dark brown eyes under faint eyebrows. His high cheeks are lightly flushed, and he has a pointed nose and a hint of a five o-clock shadow. His soft black cap has flaps that cover his ears. The wide, fur lapels of his black cloak nearly reach his shoulders. The sleeves of the garment beneath has a tan and black checked pattern, and a white undershirt peeks out at his neck and cuffs. A cross hanging from a heavy gold chain has black pearls in the cross of each arm and a teardrop-shaped black pearl hangs from the bottom. The cross has a hand on each short arm, two feet on the long leg, and a red circle at the center. The sitter’s left hand, on our right, rests on the red ledge holding a pair of gloves that are ivory white around the wrist and charcoal gray at the fingers. His right hand, father from us, rests in a loose fist near his other wrist. A folded piece of white paper with black writing lies to our left of the hands. It reads, “NVNQVID NON PAVCITAS DIERVM MEORVM FINIETVR BREVIS.” The background behind the man is mottled with rust brown and steel gray. Gold writing spans the background to either side of the man’s head, reading, “BRIANVS TVKS, MILES, ANO ETATIS EVAE LVII” along the top and “DROIT ET AVANT” below.
Hans Holbein the Younger, Sir Brian Tuke, c. 1527/1528 or c. 1532/1534, oil on panel, Andrew W. Mellon Collection, 1937.1.65

Sir Brian Tuke

Hans Holbein the Younger · c. 1527/1528 or c. 1532/1534 · oil on panel ·  Accession ID  1937.1.65

Shown from the chest up, a cleanshaven man with peachy skin sits angled to our right in this vertical portrait painting. He has chin-length, curly, auburn-red hair. He gazes off to our right with hazel eyes under thick brows. He has a slightly humped nose, and his wide mouth is closed. Loose jowls line his jawline. A large, soft, scarlet-red cap covers the top of his head and hangs down over the far ear, to our right. The brim is upturned and the underside lined with brown ovals. He wears a salmon-pink tunic over an apricot-colored undergarment, which is striped with thin gray strokes. The loose neckline of the tunic is trimmed with black. A background is streaked with emerald green and tan.
Hans Holbein the Younger, Portrait of a Young Man, c. 1520/1530, oil on panel, Samuel H. Kress Collection, 1961.9.21

Portrait of a Young Man

Hans Holbein the Younger · c. 1520/1530 · oil on panel ·  Accession ID  1961.9.21

Félix Bracquemond, Erasmus, 1863, etching on chine collé on wove paper, Gift of Addie Burr Clark, 1946.9.21

Erasmus

Félix Bracquemond · 1863 · etching on chine collé on wove paper ·  Accession ID  1946.9.21

William Henry Worthington, Elizabeth, published 1823, engraving, Rosenwald Collection, 1950.14.390

Elizabeth

William Henry Worthington · published 1823 · engraving ·  Accession ID  1950.14.390

George Vertue, Henry VII and the Family of Henry VIII in Whitehall Palace, engraving, Gift of Hermann Wunderlich, 1951.3.12

Henry VII and the Family of Henry VIII in Whitehall Palace

George Vertue · · engraving ·  Accession ID  1951.3.12

Robert White, Catherine of Aragon, First Wife of Henry VIII, published 1681, engraving, Rosenwald Collection, 1951.11.834

Catherine of Aragon, First Wife of Henry VIII

Robert White · published 1681 · engraving ·  Accession ID  1951.11.834

Bibliography

1960

  • Die Malerfamilie Holbein in Basel. Exh. cat. Kunstmuseum, Basel, 1960.

1967

  • Strong, Roy. Holbein and Henry VIII. London and New York, 1967.

1985

  • Rowlands, John. Holbein. The Paintings of Hans Holbein the Younger. complete edition. Oxford, 1985.

1993

  • Hand, John Oliver, with the assistance of Sally E. Mansfield. German Paintings of the Fifteenth through Seventeenth Centuries. The Collections of the National Gallery of Art Systematic Catalogue. Washington, D.C., 1993: 82-83.