Hans Holbein the younger (Holbein Hans)

(1497-1543)
Holbein's portraits of distinguished and noble realistic interpretation of images. Extremely versatile artist, he was the author of the compositions on religious subjects, the frescoes and interior decoration, creating designs of jewelry and stained glass, worked in the genre of book illustration.
Holbein was born in Augsburg, he was the son of Hans Holbein the Elder, a famous painter, the master of the altar painting. After training in the workshop of his father in 1514 he went to Basel, then a major center of art and humanistic scholarship. Holbein soon became prominent patrons among the citizens, among whom was the humanist Erasmus of Rotterdam. During a trip to Italy (in 1518) and the South of France (in 1524) Holbein significantly expanded its horizons. Two years later he went on the recommendation of Erasmus to England to Thomas Mora. In 1528 he returned to Basel, and from 1530 finally settled in London. In 1536 became the court painter of King Henry VIII. Over the years spent in England, he created the app. 150 portraits. Holbein died of the plague in London in 1543.

Holbein was a portraitist purely analytical. The immediate work on the portrait was preceded by a short period of observation, during which the artist tried to determine for themselves the most important traits of the model. Every time he managed to give a remarkably accurate and comprehensive description of the person portrayed.

Such an approach to working with the model has already manifested itself in the early portraits of Basel intellectuals. In the portrait of Boniface Amerbaha (1519, Basel, public art collection) shows the friend and follower of Erasmus, Professor of Law at the University of Basel. The spirit of noble self-restraint is characteristic for portraits of Erasmus of Rotterdam (1523-1524, Paris, Louvre). Famous scientist before sitting at desks and thoughtful. Brushes Holbein owns several portraits of Erasmus.

In England, the master engaged in registration of court holidays, working under orders of the church. The Portrait of Thomas More (1527, New York, Frick Collection), a famous humanist clothed in soft raiment Chancellor, in his straight posture and facial features reflect the force of his character. In some portraits of Holbein opened the image, in terms not only by traditional means, but with the help of a large number of telling details, stationed all over the field pattern. In the portrait of George Gistse (1532, Berlin - Dahlem), the artist to reproduce the texture of each of the items intended to provide additional information about the identity of the customer.

Goldbeyn went even further in the use of attributes to describe the model in the remarkable paintings of the French Ambassadors (1533, London, National Gallery). Two richly dressed man depicted in front of the high table, cluttered set of subjects, hinting at their religious, intellectual and artistic interests. The strangest thing in the picture seems certain to form an elongated object placed in the foreground. If you look at it on the left, at close range, it is evident that this skull.

Golbeynovskie portraits of members of the British royal family were conceived and executed with a view to the glorification of royalty. In his portrayal of Henry VIII (1536, Madrid, Thyssen-Bornemisza collection), and Queen Jane Seymour (1536, The Hague, Royal Cabinet of pictures) King and his third wife were presented more as a great figure, rather than as men of flesh and blood. Each piece of jewelry, each piece of brocade passed with amazing clarity, all forms are flattened and reduced to a pattern of. After the death of Jane Seymour Henry VIII Holbein several times sent abroad to paint portraits of estimated future brides. Preserved in full-length portrait of Christina of Denmark, Duchess of Milan (1538, London, National Gallery). From this series of works have survived and heavy machine and a miniature portrait of Anne of Cleves (both 1539, the first in the Louvre, the second in London, the Victoria and Albert Museum). This image combines several flattened, resembling an icon image and the interpretation of human warmth, peace and tenderness. Portrait of Henry VIII in a wedding dress (1539-1540, Rome, National Gallery) looks almost like an icon

. Among other significant works of Holbein - Laish Corinth (1526, . Basle, . Public art collection, here in the form of the famous courtesan, . taken from classical literature, . imprinted Magdalena Offenburg); deeply personal and intimate nature portrait of his wife and children, . written on his return to Basel in 1528; Madonna Burgomaster Meyer (ca,
. 1528, Darmstadt, Palace Museum) - altarpiece depicting the Madonna and the mayor of Basel with the family at her feet.

Among the paintings on religious subjects should be noted such works as the Dead Christ (1521, Basel, public art collection) and five tracks Passion of the Christ (1524, ibid). The first of these, which is probably part of the lost altar, shaking the image of frozen, dried body of Christ. In 1524-1526 created a series of drawings Holbein Dance of Death (published in woodcut Lyon in 1538), they depict death, affects the representatives of different sectors of society.