By the time Holbein became a master of the "Zum Himmel" painters' guild of Basle on September 25, 1519, he had already proved his skills in numerous artistic techniques: his fame as a panel painter and draftsman would certainly have been a great asset; in Lucerne he had acquired experience in painting murals; and, like his brother Ambrosius, he was a skilled designer of woodcuts, a facet of his creativity in which Holbein was to be highly productive, especially in the following years in Basle. By marrying Elsbeth Binzenstock (died 1549), the widow of a tanner, Holbein became an established figure, and as husband of a Basle woman he obtained, on July 3, 1520, the status of burgher free of charge.
The Portrait of Bonifacius Amerbach is a simple and striking portrait. The Dead Christ of 1521 is unimaginable without the example of Grünewald, yet nowhere is Holbein's capacity for detached and merciless observation more apparent. Almost contemporaneously with The Dead Christ, Holbein painted a work whose content is diametrically opposed to the picture of death: the Solothurn Madonna.
In 1524 during his visit to France Holbein first encountered Leonardo's art. Leonardo's influence is clearly evident in Holbein's Last Supper and Lais of Corinth.
Summary of paintings by Hans Holbein the Younger |
1515-19 | 1519-25 | altarpieces | 1526-28 | 1529-31 |
1532-35 | Ambassadors | Henry VIII and his family | 1536-43 |
drawings and woodcuts | miniatures | Miscellaneous works |