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Hans Holbein the Younger
Holbein
German family of artists. Hans Holbein, who became one of the leading painters in south Germany, was the son of Michael Holbein, a tanner, who may have settled in Augsburg from Basle, and of Anna Mair, through whom he was related to important artists working in and near Augsburg. These included his uncles Hans Mair (probably identical with the painter Mair von Landshut) and Michel Erhart, and his cousins Gregor Erhart, Paulus Erhart and Hans Daucher, all of whom were sculptors. Apparently included in Hans Holbein’s workshop was his brother Sigmund Holbein (d Berne, 1540), whom Hans portrayed in a drawing (1512; London, BM). In 1501 they were together at Frankfurt am Main and in 1516–17 Sigmund took proceedings against his brother, who had already left Augsburg. No documented work by Sigmund Holbein survives. Hans Holbein married c. 1494, but the identity of his wife is unknown; their two sons, Ambrosius Holbein and Hans Holbein, also became artists, the latter being among the most important portrait painters in northern Europe during the Reformation.
Hans Holbein the Younger
(b Augsburg, 1497–8; d London, 1543).
Painter, draughtsman and designer, active in Switzerland and England, son of Hans Holbein. He is best known as the most important portrait painter in England during the Reformation, although he began his career in Basle, where he worked mainly as a painter of altarpieces and designer of woodcuts. Dissatisfaction with patronage in Switzerland led him to visit England in 1526–8, where, through Erasmus, he met Sir Thomas More and his circle. On returning to Basle, he completed projects that he had begun before his trip to England, undertook commissions for the city authorities and produced designs for stained glass and goldsmiths’ work. In 1532 he returned to England, where he worked almost exclusively as a portrait painter, mainly under the patronage of King Henry VIII and his courtiers.
Portrait of a Lady with a Squirrel and a Starling
1527-28
National Gallery, London
