Paintings in Basle (1519-25)
by Hans HOLBEIN the Younger

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.

Preview Picture Data Info
Portrait of Bonifacius Amerbach
1519
Oil on pinewood, 29 x 27 cm
Kunstmuseum, Öffentliche Kunstsammlung, Basel


Diptych with Christ and the Mater Dolorosa
c. 1520
Limewood, 29 x 20 cm (each panel)
Kunstmuseum, Öffentliche Kunstsammlung, Basel


The Body of the Dead Christ in the Tomb
1521
Oil on wood, 31 x 200 cm
Kunstmuseum, Öffentliche Kunstsammlung, Basel


The Solothurn Madonna
1522
Limewood, 141 x 102 cm
Museum der Stadt Solothurn, Solothurn


The Solothurn Madonna (detail)
1522
Limewood
Museum der Stadt Solothurn, Solothurn


St Ursula
c. 1523
Tempera on wood, 96 x 42 cm
Staatliche Kunsthalle, Karlsruhe


Portrait of Erasmus of Rotterdam Writing
1523
Paper mounted on pine, 37 x 31 cm
Kunstmuseum, Öffentliche Kunstsammlung, Basel


Erasmus
1523
Oil on wood, 43 x 33 cm
Musée du Louvre, Paris


Erasmus (detail)
1523
Oil on wood
Musée du Louvre, Paris


Portrait of Erasmus of Rotterdam
1523
Wood, 76 x 51 cm
National Gallery, London


Noli me Tangere
1524
Oil on wood, 77 x 95 cm
Royal Collection, Hampton Court


Noli me Tangere (detail)
c. 1524
Oil on oak panel
Royal Collection, Hampton Court


The Last Supper
1524-25
Limewood, 116 x 97 cm
Kunstmuseum, Öffentliche Kunstsammlung, Basel


Venus and Amor
1524-25
Limewood, 35 x 26 cm
Kunstmuseum, Öffentliche Kunstsammlung, Basel



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



© Web Gallery of Art, created by Emil Krén and Daniel Marx.