The German painter Hans Holbein the Younger (1497 or 1498–1543) was a German painter and representative of the Renaissance era in northern Europe. Portraits of Henry VIII's Londoners are Holbein's most famous achievement and the centerpiece of a new exhibition at the Morgan Library and Museum in New York, Holbein: Capturing Character. It was the first major Holbein exhibition in the United States, spanning his entire artistic career, from making portraits of religious icons in Basel in his early years to becoming a court painter in England, presenting his technical sophistication and capture of the personality of the characters.
If no one pays, the artistic creation does not have much value. Just about five centuries ago, in February 1529, Hans Holbein the Younger witnessed the citizens of Basel occupying churches, destroying statues and crosses, and throwing altarpiece ornaments on burning firewood. Known as the "Storm of Pictures," it was a riot against religious imagery and old conventions that swept through Switzerland and Northern Europe — and among the damaged works of art was Holbein's own Last Supper. Whatever the German artist's thoughts on the Reformation, he understood that this radical preaching was bad news for the Swiss art market.
A Member of the Wade family, Hans Holbein Jr., 1533
Things got worse, and Holbein left Basel in 1532 for London. Ten years ago he lived in the local Thomas More mansion. Today, Mohr has fallen, and Holbein has found new customers among wealthy German traders who have their own special economic zones on the River Thames. His first commissioned work was to paint a portrait of a Cologne merchant named Wedigh. In Holbein's painting, transparent blue as a background, Wade wears a heavy black cloak and a beret of the same material. In his left hand he held a pair of brownish-yellow leather gloves, and on that hand there was a small stamp ring with the coat of arms of his house: three willow leaves cut in a V-shaped line.
Holbein cut the portrait to the fewest elements: no symbol of erudition, no rich background, no intricate decoration. But look at Wadey's eyes: the right eye is a little bigger and the right eyebrow is slightly arched. In this new era of pictorial politics, Holbein brought with it a new form of painting: the enlarged eye provided something that no ornament or gilded leaf could convey: this flat painting showed the mystique of a man, which was made in the image of God, but it came from this world.
Portraits of Henry VIII's Londoners have been the most famous achievement of Hans Holbein The Younger (1497 or 1498-1543), and they are also the centerpiece of the Morgan Library and Museum's new exhibition Holbein: Capturing Character, the first major exhibition of the urban master. The exhibition debuted at the Getty Museum in Los Angeles, and this one is quite different. The paintings are rare, precious, and fragile; several important works were originally planned to be loaned to New York and Los Angeles, but they did not materialize, and some Holbein works were unable to arrive due to the epidemic.
Thomas More, Holbein 1527
Morgan exhibited portraits of Thomas More from the Frick Collection, while Los Angeles exhibited portraits of Thomas Cromwell from the Frick Collection; neither of these two paintings nor some other Holbein works has been exhibited in the past century. The Kunstmuseum Basel sent a small circular portrait of Erasmus, a Holbein immigrant partner in the Swiss city, but the museum did not send a large Erasmus or the still-shocking "The Body of The Dead Christ in The Tomb." The Louvre in Paris has a conservative portrait of Anne of Cleves, the fourth wife of Henry VIII, whose marriage ended in disaster, and the Louvre failed to deliver a single work.
Erasmus rotterdam Holbein c. 1532
"Anna of Clervaux" Holbein
In my opinion, "Holbein: Capturing Character" has done its best under today's constraints. While portraits are the focal point, the exhibition combines Holbein's personal portraits with woodcuts and the design of circular pendants, oil paintings and prints by contemporaries such as Albrecht Dürer and Jan Gossaert, stamp rings, hat badges, and other jewelry, all of which echo The costumes of Holbein's models.
Holbein was born in Bavaria at the end of the 15th century; his father, uncle and brother were also painters. As a teenager, he moved to Basel, where humanists such as Erasmus, publisher Johann Froben and university president Bonifacius Amerbach made the city one of the richest intellectual centers in Europe.
The Lady, the Pine and the Starling, By Holbein, Collection of the National Gallery
The young Holbein would soon become a renowned painter in Basel, and with his relatively novel medium of oil paint, he created a series of persuasive portraits that derived from technical realism and humanist allusions. For example, he designed a coat of arms for Erasmus based on the ancient Roman patron deity Terminus, and engraved the Latin motto "Concedo nulli" on it: I do not submit to anyone. A German businessman holds a mathematical icon in one hand and a rolled-up piece of paper at his elbow with a verse from the Aeneidine.
Holbein brought this precise technique and superior intellect to London, and in 1536 he was appointed court painter of Henry VIII. The exhibition presents only a small amount of court art, nor any portrait of the king and his wives. Holbein's most famous work is too precious to get to New York from the National Gallery in London: In his duo portrait The Ambassadors to the British court, two Frenchmen pose in Henry VIII's palace, surrounded by globes, musical instruments and a mysterious skull.
The French Ambassador to the British Court, Holbein
A marvelous portrait of Simon George demonstrates Holbein's astonishing ability to shape an individual's portrait through appearances and symbols. This was a nobleman from Cornwall, little known, and this beautiful young man, like a German merchant, appeared on a blue background with round outlines, like the emperor on a Roman coin. (A sketch hanging next to it shows how Holbein initially captured George's concave nose and squinting gaze, only to add the symbol later.) )
Sketch of a portrait of Simon George
Simon George, Holbein
He has a golden badge on his hat that depicts the story of the Greek myth "The Lady and the Swan", and in his right hand he holds a bright red carnation: it may be a symbol of fidelity, or it may be reminiscent of the tears of the Virgin on the bitter road. This portrait is loaned from the Stadler Museum in Frankfurt, Germany, and if you look closely, you can see the amazing details of a cotton-lined black leather jacket.
Looking at the British nobility and German merchants here – not only in the paintings, but also in the striking chalk paintings depicting the courtiers Nicholas Carew and Henry Howard – Holbein strikes the most delicate balance between reality and ideal. In order to express political power and economic influence, he needed not only to be proficient in optics, color theory, and classical history, but also to have a sharp eye that could penetrate all disguises and reveal the greatest special thing: the self.
Thomas Cromwell, 1532-1533, Collection of the Frick Collection, New York
The result is a new image, a truth that the English have never seen in painting, and even the person in the painting himself finds it inconceivable. In Hilary Mantel's novel Wolf Hall, Cromwell gazes at his portrait — the one just returned from the Getty Museum tour — wondering if he really "looks like a murderer." His son looked at Holbein, then at his own father, and asked, "Don't you know yourself?" ”
"Holbein: Portrait Capture" will be on display until May 15.