By the mid-1520s, however, the violent disturbances associated with the Reformation put an end to this productivity. Religious paintings were viewed with disfavour and Holbein decided to look for work in England. The choice of England was perhaps encouraged by Erasmus, and his portraits of Erasmus form the prelude to the humanist portraits of Holbein's first English period.

A handful of portraits is all that remains of Holbein's first English period: the portraits of Sir Thomas More, William Warham, Unknown Lady with a Squirrel and a Starling, Nicholas Kratzer, Sir Henry and Lady Guildford, the double portrait of Sir Thomas Godsalve and his son John. His most remarkable work was a large group portrait of Sir Thomas More's family, which has since been destroyed.

Preview	Picture Data	Info
	Lais of Corinth 1526 Limewood, 35 x 27 cm Kunstmuseum, Öffentliche Kunstsammlung, Basel
	Portrait of Sir Henry Guildford 1527 Oak, 83 x 66 cm Royal Collection, Windsor
	Portrait of Lady Mary Guildford 1527 Oak, 87 x 71 cm Art Museum, Saint Louis
	Portrait of Lady Mary Guildford around 1550 Oil and gold on oak panel, 82 x 66 cm Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
	Portrait of William Warham, Archbishop of Canterbury 1527 Oil on oak, 82 x 67 cm Musée du Louvre, Paris
	Sir Thomas More 1527 Tempera on wood, 74 x 59 cm Frick Collection, New York
	Sir Brian Tuke c. 1527 Oil on wood, 49 x 39 cm National Gallery of Art, Washington
	Portrait of a Lady with a Squirrel and a Starling 1527-28 Oil on oak, 54 x 39 cm National Gallery, London
	Portrait of a Lady with a Squirrel and a Starling (detail) 1527-28 Oil on oak National Gallery, London
	Double Portrait of Sir Thomas Godsalve and His Son John 1528 Resin tempera on oak, 35 x 36 cm Gemäldegalerie, Dresden
	Double Portrait of Sir Thomas Godsalve and His Son John (detail) 1528 Resin tempera on oak Gemäldegalerie, Dresden
	Portrait of Nikolaus Kratzer 1528 Tempera on oak, 83 x 67 cm Musée du Louvre, Paris
	Portrait of Nikolaus Kratzer (detail) 1528 Tempera on oak Musée du Louvre, Paris