HOLBEIN, Hans the Younger
(b. 1497, Augsburg, d. 1543, London)

Title-plate with St Peter and St Paul

1523
Woodcut, 243 x 166 mm
Kupferstichkabinett, Öffentliche Kunstsammlung, Basel

Structurally, the title-plate woodcut of Adam Petri's edition of the New Testament is closely related to Holbein's Whitehall composition. As in the latter, a panel the size of a human figure stands on a plinth in the foreground, marked off by a molded ledge. The human figures (the apostles Peter and Paul) are placed left and right of it. In both compositions, scalloped niches articulate the rear wall of the rectangular space, which is cut right back laterally.

Suggested listening (streaming mp3, 3 minutes):
Guillaume Dufay: Aurea luce, hymn for the feast of Sts Peter and Paul