WORK IN LUCERNE AND THE VISIT TO LOMBARDY
Holbein leaves Basel for Lucerne—Ambrosius Holbein—The known facts of
his short life—His pictures, designs, and woodcuts—Records of Hans in
Lucerne—His decoration of the Hertenstein house—Description of the
wall-paintings—Portrait of Benedikt von Hertenstein—Holbein’s visit to
North Italy—“The Last Supper” at Basel, and Leonardo’s
influence—Evidences of his Italian journey in his designs for painted
glass—Possible visit to Altorf—Return to Lucerne—Drawings of the
“Archangel Michael” and of “Miners at Work”—Pictures painted for the
Church of the Augustines in Lucerne.
IN 1517 Holbein left Basel, and was absent for nearly two years. For the
greater part of the time he was in Lucerne, but traces of him are to be
found in other parts of Switzerland, and it is practically certain that
he also paid a short visit to Lombardy. It is possible, too, that during
this time he may have returned to Basel more than once for a few weeks
in connection with his work for Froben and other publishers. Whether he
left Basel in the first place because he found that it gave him less
employment than he had expected, or from a spirit of pure adventure, or,
again, on account of the offer of some definite commission, such as the
decoration of the Hertenstein house, is not known; but the last-named
reason is the most probable one, for it cannot be said that his talents
had been unrecognised in Basel. Although there is no record of any
earlier wall-paintings than those he was now to complete in Lucerne, it
is quite possible that the two brothers had already carried out work of
this nature, and that Jakob von Hertenstein had seen it and had admired
it, and so decided to employ one or both of the young men to decorate in
like fashion the new mansion he had just completed. Even if this were
not the case, Lucerne at that time offered nearly as many inducements to
a young artist as Basel itself. The two towns were closely allied, and
artists and learned scholars constantly passed backwards and forwards
between them; and Holbein had at least one acquaintance in Lucerne,
Oswald Molitor, who had recently returned from Basel to his native city,
and was practising there as a schoolmaster.
There is an old legend in Lucerne that at this period the elder Holbein
was living in the town with his two sons, but it does not appear to have
any foundation in fact.[133] There is much more probability that
Ambrosius accompanied Hans, or followed him shortly afterwards, and
remained for some time at work with his brother on the Hertenstein
house; though here again there is no actual record of such an absence
from Basel. There is, however, a fine drawing by him in the Basel
Gallery (No. 297), a half-length figure of a young man of the Von
Rüdiswiler family,[134] which is thought to afford some proof that
Ambrosius was in Lucerne at the time, for the Rüdiswiler family was one
of the most important in the district, their chief seat being at
Rüdiswil. Members of this house were settled both in Lucerne and
Solothurn, and it is supposed that Ambrosius drew the portrait of this
youth of patrician birth in the former town during 1517. The sitter is
shown in profile, in a heavy brown cloak, wearing his cap on the side of
his head. His fair straight hair covers his ears, and he holds a large
red heart in his hand. The drawing has at some time been cut out round
the outline and mounted on parchment, and the inscription in secret
cipher, below the coat of arms, had been copied at the same time from
the one which existed on the original drawing before the cutting out
took place.
Ambrosius, however, must have been back again in Basel by the summer of
1518, for in that year, on June 6, he purchased his right of
citizenship. The first mention of him in the town books is on September
26, 1516, when “Ambrosy Holbein von augspurg, ein maler,” appeared in
court as a witness in a libel action brought by Bastian Lepzelter, the
sculptor, against a tailor, Andreas Huber, for insulting remarks made on
the previous 25th of July, when the plaintiff, Ambrosius, and another
friend, were enjoying themselves in the house of Hans Herbster.[135]
Ambrosius may perhaps have been working as a journeyman under Herbster
at the time. He joined the Painters’ Guild “zum Himmel,” to which
bakers, saddlers, and barber-surgeons also belonged, on St. Matthias’
Day, February 24, 1517. The entry in the book of the guild runs as
follows: “Item es hatt entpfangen die zunfft vff sant Mattistag ambross
Holbein maler von augspurg In dem xvii Jor.” According to an order of
the Basel Council issued in 1487, any one entering a guild was obliged
to take oath to purchase the freedom of the city within a month. This
Ambrosius did not do until the following year, which possibly indicates
that he left the town shortly after joining the guild, early in 1517,
without fulfilling his obligations. It may be that he had not sufficient
money for the payment of the fees, for when, on June 6, 1518, he became
a burgher, he was only able to find one gulden out of the four which
were required, Jörg Schweiger, the goldsmith, whose portrait, now in the
Basel Gallery (No. 296),[136] he painted about this time, standing
surety for the remainder. The portrait may have been taken as some
return for the kindness shown on this occasion. It should be noted,
however, that this portrait is not attributed to Ambrosius by all
critics, and differs to some extent from his accustomed style.
[Sidenote: AMBROSIUS HOLBEIN]
The entry in the archives runs as follows: “Item do hat burckrecht kufft
Ambrosy Holbein der moler uff Sundag nach corporis Xpi Im xviij jor umb
iiij glden und hat bar gen j glden und sol al fronfasten j ort bitz zu
bezallung dofür ist bürg und schuldner meister Jerg schweiger der
goldschmit.”
VOL. I., PLATE 18.
[Illustration]
[Illustration:
PORTRAITS OF TWO BROTHERS
AMBROSIUS HOLBEIN
BASEL GALLERY
]
[Sidenote: AMBROSIUS HOLBEIN]
This is the last reference to the elder brother so far discovered in the
official archives, and as no work by him of a date later than 1518 is
known, it is supposed that he died in that year or early in 1519.
Apparently the last work upon which he was engaged was a series of
woodcut illustrations for the _Geuchmatt_ of Thomas Murner, which was
published by Adam Petri in Basel in April 1519. The first four only of
the illustrations to this book[137] were designed by Ambrosius, which
would seem to indicate that he died before he had completed the
commission. The only other supposition, and a most improbable one, is
that he suddenly left Basel at about this time in search of better
fortune elsewhere, though no traces of such removal have so far been
discovered. Almost all the few works which can be attributed to him with
any certainty are now in the Basel Gallery. In addition to those already
mentioned, there are two charming half-length portraits of small boys in
a Renaissance framework (Nos. 294-5) (Pl. 18),[138] for one of which,
the boy turned to the left, the silver-point drawing is in the
Albertina, Vienna,[139] while a similar study for the other, recently
published for the first time by Dr. Willy Hes, is in the Rodriguez
Collection, Paris.[140] A half-length portrait of a little girl, in a
similar framework, also published for the first time by Dr. Hes, is in
the Ambraser Collection, Vienna, but not exhibited.[141] The strong
likeness to the two lads proves almost conclusively that she was their
sister. On the medallion which hangs from a chain round her neck are the
initials H. V. So far, no preliminary drawing for this portrait has been
discovered. In the Basel Gallery there are also “The Saviour as the Man
of Sorrows” (No. 292),[142] an oil-painting adapted from the title-page
to Dürer’s “Great Passion” series; and a study of two death’s heads
behind a trellised window (No. 299).[143] Both pictures form part of the
Amerbach Collection, but the latter is not regarded as the work of
Ambrosius by Dr. Hes. A somewhat similar picture, attributed to Hans,
was in the Arundel Collection, and was entered in the 1655 inventory as
“Testa de Morte con osse.” The portrait of Hans Herbster, also at Basel
(No. 293),[144] which has been already mentioned, was at one time
regarded as a work by Hans the Younger, but since its purchase for the
Basel Gallery it has been given, more correctly, to the elder brother.
Dr. Hes, however, considers that it is not his work, but rather a
portrait of Herbster painted by himself.[145] It is a bust portrait,
turned to the right, representing a middle-aged man with long brown hair
and a large bushy beard, wearing a dark dress and a red cap over his
right ear. He is placed under an archway of Renaissance architecture,
his head standing out against the blue sky seen through the opening.
From the top of the pillars which support the arch hang two festoons of
fruit and leaves held by small amorini. Above the heads of these boys
two small tablets are suspended, one containing the date, “1516,” and
the other the now illegible remains of the painter’s monogram. Across
the bottom is the inscription, “IOANNES HERBSTER PICTOR OPORINI PATER,”
the last words referring to his son, the well-known scholar of Basel,
who afterwards turned printer, and Latinised his name to Oporinus.
Herbster himself, like the Burgomaster Meyer, had taken his part in the
Italian wars, and was in the battle of Pavia in 1512. In addition to
several drawings already described, the Basel Gallery also possesses a
charming study in silver-point and red chalk of a young girl, inscribed
“ANNE,” and dated 1518, in which a very tender, delicate feeling for the
beauty of childhood is shown (Pl. 19);[146] the head of a young woman in
a hood in profile to the left;[147] a very fine drawing of the head of a
young man turned slightly to the left, wearing a black cap on the side
of his head, signed and dated 1517;[148] and a design for painted glass,
representing the foundation of the city of Basel (Pl. 20),[149] a pen
drawing lightly touched with colour, which was formerly attributed to
Hans. In the centre are the arms of Basel, supported by basilisks, under
an archway in course of building, which is decorated with a series of
empty shields for coats of arms. In the landscape background on either
side are men engaged in erecting buildings on the river bank, and in the
foreground is a boat filled with soldiers. The commander of this troop,
the legendary founder of the town, has the name “Basilius” engraved upon
his breastplate.
One of the most important of the few paintings by him which have been so
far traced, is the portrait of an unknown young man in the Royal
Hermitage Gallery in St. Petersburg (Pl. 21).[150] The sitter is turned
three-quarters to the left, under a Renaissance arcading, and is wearing
a green dress and white shirt ornamented with lace. On his black hat are
the initials “F. G.” or “C. I. E.” (?). His right hand rests on the iron
pommel of his sword. In the distance is a mountainous landscape with a
palace or large building of elaborate Renaissance architecture, and on a
column hangs a tablet with the inscription, “ETATIS. SVE. XX. M.D.
XVIII.” From the arch above his head is suspended a garland of leaves
bound round with ribbon, to which is attached a small cartouche with the
monogram AHB, of which the H is the most distinct letter.[151] The
drawing, mentioned above, signed and dated “1517 AH,” was considered
by Woltmann to be a study for this portrait, and there is certainly a
strong likeness between the two. The arrangement of the foreground
architectural setting, and the position of the garland supporting the
cartouche, of which only the left-hand loop is shown, prove that the
picture formed one of a pair, the missing half in all probability
containing a portrait of the young man’s wife.
VOL. I., PLATE 19.
[Illustration:
PORTRAIT OF A YOUNG GIRL, “ANNE,” 1518
_Silver-point and red chalk drawing_
AMBROSIUS HOLBEIN
BASEL GALLERY
]
VOL. I., PLATE 20.
[Illustration:
THE FOUNDING OF BASEL
Design for Painted Glass
AMBROSIUS HOLBEIN
BASEL GALLERY
]
VOL. I., PLATE 21.
[Illustration:
PORTRAIT OF AN UNKNOWN YOUNG MAN
1518
AMBROSIUS HOLBEIN
ROYAL HERMITAGE GALLERY, ST. PETERSBURG
]
VOL. I., PLATE 22.
[Illustration:
ILLUSTRATION TO SIR THOMAS MORE’S “UTOPIA”
AMBROSIUS HOLBEIN
_From a woodcut in the British Museum_
]
[Sidenote: AMBROSIUS HOLBEIN]
In addition to works of this nature, Ambrosius produced, during the few
years he was in Basel, a considerable number of designs for title-pages,
initial letters, and other decorations for books, issued by Froben,
Cratander, Adam Petri, Thomas Wolff, and Pamphilus Gegenbach. One of the
best known is the “Calumny of Apelles,”[152] the painting described by
Lucian, which bears the monogram of Ambrosius and the date 1517. It was
first used in Erasmus’ version of the New Testament, published by Froben
in 1519. He had a share, too, in the numerous illustrations and
ornaments which Froben provided for the first edition of Sir Thomas
More’s _Utopia_, upon which work his brother, Urs Graf, and others, were
also engaged. Ambrosius was the designer of the charming little picture
representing the scene in the garden of Petrus Ægidius in Antwerp in
which Raphael Hythlodæus, the traveller, is describing to his host and
Sir Thomas his adventures in the island of Utopia.[153] A larger
woodcut, with a bird’s-eye view of the island, on which the chief places
are marked as given in the text, with Hythlodæus in the foreground
pointing out its features to Ægidius and More, is also his work (Pl.
22).[154] It is difficult in every case to separate the designs of the
two brothers in this field of art, more particularly as in many
instances they have been so badly cut that much of the beauty of the
original line has been lost. In book-illustration the art of the two
young men had much in common, though Ambrosius was never as powerful or
varied in conception as Hans, nor possessed of as great a mastery of
technical execution. His woodcuts are not so thoroughly imbued with the
true spirit of the Italian Renaissance, nor had he the same gift of
producing the effect of largeness of design within an inch or two of
space. His figures, too, are often too short, with the head out of
proportion to the body. Yet much of his decorative work has considerable
charm, and fulfils its purpose admirably. Some forty woodcuts after his
designs, including a number of initial letters, are known, of which it
is impossible to attempt any description here.[155] His skill as a
designer for glass-painting has been already noted; and among his few
drawings are two small roundels, in the Karlsruhe Gallery, of “Pyramus
and Thisbe,” and “Hercules and Antæus,”[156] which are very pleasing,
and in their delicate and somewhat “pretty” handling have great
resemblance to a number of the marginal drawings to the _Praise of
Folly_ which are now given to him.
In painting he was overshadowed by his younger brother. Like Hans, he
had inherited a considerable gift for portraiture from his father, as
the few works of this nature which remain show very clearly. In his
studies for portraits the draughtsmanship is looser and more free than
in the corresponding work of the younger Hans in his earlier Basel
period, and there is less searching after exact truth of line. His
portraits, nevertheless, display an original talent of no mean order,
which, had he lived, would have gained for him a place of some
distinction among the leading German painters of his day. Such a drawing
as the “Anne” is filled with a very tender feeling, and a sympathetic
expression of the wistful charm of childhood; and much of the same
appreciation of youthful character is to be seen in the portraits of the
two small boys in the Basel Gallery, while there is a careful and
realistic drawing of the head and body of a baby, supported by the
mother’s hand, in the British Museum, evidently a study for a Madonna
and Child, which is very attractive. It is inscribed “Hans Holbein,
1522,” by some later hand, over some earlier signature, now obliterated.
According to Dr. Hes, however, it is not by Ambrosius.[157]
The records of Hans Holbein’s residence in Lucerne are scanty ones, but
such as they are, they extend from 1517 to 1519. Shortly after his
arrival he joined the painters’ guild, the Brotherhood of St. Luke,
which had been formed in 1506. In the book of the confraternity his name
is entered as having paid one gulden for admission: “Meister Hanns
Holbein hat j gulden gen.” Unfortunately the year-date is not given. The
original book has disappeared, but a copy exists which was made by
Zacharias Bletz, the town registrar, in 1541, but in transcribing it he
has omitted the dates which would fix the exact details of Holbein’s
membership.
His first recorded commission was a badly-paid one. On the Sunday before
the feast of Saints Simon and Jude (October 28), 1517, he received one
florin nine shillings for a design for a glass window. In the same year,
on December 10, an entry in the town records shows him engaged in less
reputable occupation. He and a certain Caspar, a goldsmith, were each
fined five livres for fighting in the streets. “Item Caspar goldschmid
vnnd der Holbein soll jeder 5 ll. buss als sy vber ein andern zuckt
hand.” This same Caspar, one learns from the town books, was by nature a
brawler, for he was in trouble of the same kind on more than one
occasion. The punishment in this particular case was heavy, so that the
disturbance must have been a serious one, and it has been suggested that
on account of it Holbein left Lucerne for a time, in order that the
affair might blow over, and that he took the opportunity of paying a
visit to Lombardy. It is not likely, however, that he crossed the Alps
in the winter.
[Sidenote: PAINTINGS OF HERTENSTEIN HOUSE]
In one of the rooms of the Hertenstein house, at the time of its
demolition early in the last century, there still remained the date 1517
on one of the wall decorations, which suggests that his work in the
interior of the mansion was well advanced, if not completed, during that
year. The outer walls were still unfinished when Holbein left Lucerne,
for what reason is not known, but it does not seem probable that he
would have abandoned an important commission for several months merely
on account of some small trouble with the town authorities. The visit to
Italy, it seems certain, took place in the spring or early summer of
1518, after the decorations of the Hertenstein house had been well
advanced. These decorations, as far as can be judged from the few
existing remains, show a certain Italian influence, but for the greater
part not so strongly that it cannot be accounted for by the teaching of
his father, the study of prints and engravings, and other second-hand
sources. There is, however, a drawing in the Basel Gallery, described
below, a preliminary study of architectural decoration for the lower
part of the façade of the house, which, as Dr. Ganz points out, must
have been made after Holbein’s return from Italy, for in it this new
influence can be seen much more clearly and strongly, just as it can in
similar work undertaken by him in Basel a year or two later, after a
visit to Lombardy had brought him into personal contact with the works
of some of the leading Italian masters in painting and architecture. It
is clear, therefore, that the journey over the Alps formed an interlude
of some duration between two sojourns in Lucerne, each extending over
several months, and that during the second period he completed the
Hertenstein wall-paintings.
Lucerne was one of the first towns in Switzerland to feel the influence
of the Italian Renaissance, and the fashion, copied from the southern
country, of decorating the fronts of its houses with wall-paintings, had
been adopted before Holbein worked there. As early as 1435 the Frey
family owned a house which was covered with such paintings; a second
house with sixteenth-century decorations was demolished in 1871, while
others of the same period retained traces of wall-paintings until
comparatively modern times. Certain fragments of this early
wall-painting still exist, and there has been a revival of the art in
Lucerne in recent years. Augsburg was probably the first town outside
Italy to adopt this method of house decoration, to which the painters
who practised it owed so much of the freedom of their style; but many of
the towns immediately to the north of the Alps followed suit in course
of time, and modified the architecture of their buildings in order to
meet the requirements of the new fashion, abandoning to a certain extent
the structural Gothic decorative forms to which they were accustomed, in
order to make room for the provision of large flat wall surfaces, broken
only by plain rectangular windows and doors, upon which the painters
would have free scope for their work. It became the habit, too, among
the wealthier of the citizens, to decorate the inner walls of their
mansions in the same way.
Jakob von Hertenstein, who, when he gave the commission to Holbein for
the painting of his new house, was the chief magistrate of Lucerne, was
a member of one of the oldest families in Switzerland. His father,
Caspar von Hertenstein, held many important civic and military offices,
and led the Swiss rearguard at the battle of Murten. His son inherited
many of his dignities, and was also a notable soldier, and in 1515, in
which year he was mayor, commanded the men of Lucerne at the battle of
Marignano. His ancestral castle stood on a steep rock on the shore of
the lake of Lucerne, near Weggis, and from it the family took its name.
Jakob was married four times, in each instance to a lady of a patrician
Swiss family, and in the decoration of the façade of his new dwelling,
Holbein introduced the coats of arms of all four of them. In 1511 he
purchased of Hans Wolf an old wooden house which stood on the
Kappelplatz at the corner of a small street leading to the Sternen
Platz, near the Corn Market, and in the heart of the city. This house he
pulled down, and erected in its place a fine stone mansion, which was
finished, and ready for its decorations, by 1517.
It has been suggested that Holbein obtained this commission through the
good services of Oswald Molitor, who was a friend of one of
Hertenstein’s sons; but, however it may have been gained, it was one of
great importance to so young an artist, and he made the most of his
opportunities. The house was one of four storeys, and the whole of its
frontage he covered with paintings. It was still standing in 1824, with
its decorations for the greater part well preserved; but it was then
pulled down, and all that remains of its painted glories is comprised in
a number of very inadequate copies of certain portions, a single
fragment of one of the original paintings, together with a small study
for one of the pictures, and the architectural design already mentioned
for part of the ground floor decoration, both from Holbein’s own pencil.
It is thus to-day almost impossible to obtain any adequate impression of
the actual effect of the painter’s earliest undertaking of importance,
as it was in the days of its first freshness and beauty.
[Sidenote: PAINTINGS OF HERTENSTEIN HOUSE]
The ground floor was left undecorated, with the exception of the
painting of certain architectural details, and on the floor above, which
had numerous windows of varying sizes, and little wall space, Holbein’s
work was confined to three single female figures, one at each corner,
and one between the windows in the middle. Immediately over the windows
on the left, which were irregular in arrangement, the decoration
consisted of ornaments and figures adapted to fit the window crowns; and
on the right, where the windows were considerably higher and stood in a
straight line, a long frieze of fighting children was introduced. All
these decorations were painted in grisaille, but between the two groups
was a larger picture in colours, the upper part of which extended to the
floor above. This picture was so arranged that its framework had the
appearance of a large projecting bay, semicircular in shape, with an
arched opening supported by pillars, through which a view was obtained
of what appeared to be a large inner chamber of the house. Within this
room Holbein depicted a story from the _Gesta Romanorum_, the one which
tells of the old king who tested the love of his three sons and their
right to succeed him by offering his dead body as a target to their
arrows. This picture was still in a fairly good condition at the time of
the destruction of the house, so that from the copy then made it is
possible to gain an idea of the artist’s conception of the scene. He
represented the white-haired monarch, death-pale in face, still seated
upright on his throne, though his heart has ceased to beat. Two of the
sons have shot their arrows, and one points to the cruel wound he has
made, and claims the crown; but the third, rather than aim at such a
target, breaks his bow in indignation, and is acclaimed the victor by
the assembled courtiers. On the third storey, between the windows, were
placed the coats of arms of Hertenstein and his four wives, within
arched openings with hanging wreaths.
Between the windows of the third storey and those of the floor above it,
there ran a long triumphal procession from right to left, broken up into
groups by pilasters placed at intervals, giving the effect of an open
arcading through which the passing show was seen. This design was
borrowed in its main details and arrangement from Andrea Mantegna’s
engraved “Triumph of Caesar.” In this he followed his original so
closely as to clothe the figures in antique costumes, whereas in the
pictures drawn from classical sources painted on other parts of the
building, he made use of the costumes of his own day. On the topmost
storey five pictures were placed between the windows reaching up to the
cornice of the roof. These, too, were chosen from classical literature,
apparently for the purpose of providing moral lessons, not only for the
members of Hertenstein’s own family, but for all the citizens of Lucerne
who paused to admire their mayor’s new residence. They included the
stories of the treacherous schoolmaster who attempted to betray the town
of Falerii to Camillus, Tarquin and Lucretia, the self-sacrifice of
Marcus Curtius, Mucius Scævola before Porsenna, and Leæna, who bit off
her tongue rather than betray her lover Aristogiton to the judges after
the murder of Hipparchus.
The only original study for these painted stories now remaining is the
one for the last-named subject, which is preserved in the Basel Gallery
(Pl. 23 (1)).[158] It is a washed monochrome drawing, in which Leæna, in
the costume of Holbein’s own day, stands before her two judges, her hand
lifted to her tongue in sign of her determination to keep silence. The
story is told with the aid of but few figures. A gaoler stands near
Leæna, and behind the two judges are two other seated men. The scene
takes place in a vaulted hall with open archways at the back, and has
been cleverly arranged to fill in the irregular spaces between the
brackets supporting the cornice. This study is of great interest, as it
marks a great advance in Holbein’s power of drawing the human figure
when compared with the schoolmaster’s sign-board of the previous year,
and shows much greater freedom of draughtsmanship. The heads of one or
two of the figures still retain something of the grotesqueness of type
which characterises those of the early Passion series of pictures, but
the figure of Leæna is a graceful one, and the judge in the centre, in a
furred robe and cap, with one finger lifted in admonition and a rod of
justice or sword grasped in his left hand, is natural and dignified. The
only fragment of the actual wall-painting itself which now remains is a
small portion of the Tarquin and Lucretia fresco,[159] showing the
latter’s hand grasping the dagger, the figure of her husband before whom
she is about to kill herself, the right arm of a woman attendant who
stands behind her, and part of the architectural background. This
fragment was built into the wall of the house which replaced the older
one, and can still be seen on the upper floor of the façade. It is
insignificant enough in itself, and has greatly darkened with age and
exposure, but it is of value as the only actual evidence of the broad
and vigorous manner in which the whole façade was painted.[160]
VOL. I., PLATE 23.
[Illustration]
[Illustration:
DESIGNS FOR THE WALL-PAINTINGS OF THE HERTENSTEIN HOUSE
1. Leaena and the Judges 2. Architectural
Decoration of the Ground Floor
BASEL GALLERY
]
A second original drawing by Holbein in the Basel Gallery is a study for
a part of the ground-floor façade of this house (Pl. 23 (2)).[161] It is
a pen and wash drawing slightly touched with colour. Groups of pillars
support a frieze with flat carving in the Gothic manner. Above the
pointed doorway on the left he has thrown a circular arch, round which
the pattern of the frieze is continued, filled in with grotesque
sculptured figures supporting a tablet for a date. On the right he has
placed an open loggia, to which a flight of stone steps descends, with
square pillars, inlaid with marble panels, on either side supporting a
wide, flattened arch richly ornamented. The space over the frieze on the
right is filled in with a procession of naked boys, some dragged along
by their comrades, and others carried on litters, and above this again,
hanging garlands of leaves with swinging putti, one blowing a trumpet.
According to Dr. Ganz, this last motive, as well as other parts of the
architectural design, are reminiscent of details to be seen in the
cloisters and on the façade of the Certosa of Pavia, and suggest that
Holbein must have taken them directly from that building.[162] If this
be so, it proves that a part at least of the wall decoration of the
Hertenstein house was not finished until after Holbein’s visit to
Lombardy.
[Sidenote: PAINTINGS OF HERTENSTEIN HOUSE]
It seems certain that Holbein began his work in the interior of the
house, and that he covered the walls of at least five rooms, chiefly on
the third floor, with paintings. In 1825 many of them still remained in
an excellent state of preservation. In contradistinction to those on the
outer walls, they consisted of religious pictures, and scenes from
ancient fables and from everyday life in which humour found a prominent
place. The sacred decorations were in a large hall which served as the
family chapel. One of them represented the legend of the fourteen saints
who are said to have appeared to a shepherd in 1445 at a church in the
neighbourhood of Bamberg. Holbein depicted them in an elaborate
landscape, with mountains and a church in the background, grouped on
their knees round the Infant Christ, with the shepherd, a striking
figure, kneeling in adoration with his sheep round him. A second picture
in this room contained portraits of Hertenstein, his wife, and three
sons, very diminutive figures, kneeling before seven saints, among them
St. Benedictus, the patron saint of Lucerne. A third picture showed a
religious procession, with a bishop and other ecclesiastics, headed by
banners, issuing from the walls of a town in a hilly country. In the
large hall of the house, on the third floor, which at the time of the
demolition was still in its original state, were a number of landscapes
with hunting scenes, in one of which, a stag-hunt, the ancient castle of
the Hertensteins on a hill by the lake of Lucerne was introduced. In
these scenes portraits of the chief magistrate and members of his family
were included. In one of them Hertenstein, his fourth wife, and two
sons, Benedikt and Leodegar, all mounted, are hunting wild ducks by the
side of the lake, accompanied by dogs. Husband and wife appear again in
the painting representing a stag-hunt in the woodland below the castle
at Weggis. In a third scene hares are being hunted with a pack of hounds
over hilly country. Near the fireplace was a representation of a subject
which was popular with German painters—the Fountain of Youth. In this a
certain amount of latitude was permitted, and Holbein depicted some of
the incidents with a rough, unrefined humour. Nude men and women are
sitting crowded together in a small circular fountain, some still old,
others already rejuvenated by its waters. In the centre of the basin
rises a pillar with a banner bearing the arms of Hertenstein and his
fourth wife. From all sides old people come crowding and hurrying up,
some in carts, some on donkeys, one pushed in a wheelbarrow, and others
carried in litters or on the backs of less feeble seekers after
perpetual youth. In one instance an ugly old woman, seated in a basket
slung on the back of a sturdy young man, holds in her arms an equally
old and ugly dog, in order that it, too, may benefit from the bath. A
second painting next to it continued the story. Other old men and women
are crowded into a long cart drawn by four horses, into the back of
which a lame man has scrambled, while a second limps painfully after it.
In other rooms the decorations were so dilapidated and damaged that it
was impossible to make copies of them; but they included battle scenes,
and various Renaissance ornaments and devices. In one of these latter
rooms occurred the date 1517 under the family shield.[163] In one of the
chambers was a wooden pillar, carved with the likeness of Heini von Uri,
court fool of Duke Leopold of Austria, for which Holbein appears to have
supplied the design from which the carver worked. Hollar made an etching
from this drawing, or from a woodcut of it, as he has inscribed it, “H.
Holbein incidit in lignum,” when it was in the Arundel Collection, in
1647.[164]
In carrying out this monumental work, Holbein, in addition to possible
help from his brother, must have employed more than one assistant. He
made, no doubt, designs for every part of it, and painted the principal
pictures himself, but much of the remainder was very probably done by
others under his personal direction. North of the Alps such work was not
particularly well paid, nor was great care displayed in carrying it out.
Both artist and employer were satisfied if a good decorative effect in
design and colour was produced; the former, considering the large amount
of surface to be covered, could not waste much time over the careful
painting of details, nor was the latter prepared to pay more than a very
moderate price for it. There is no doubt, however, that Holbein’s work
in this field was far in advance of anything hitherto carried out in
Switzerland, more particularly in the elaborate architectural settings
in which he placed his wall pictures, and in the use made of
perspective, so that the scenes depicted appeared to be taking place
within the rooms of the house itself, and the eye was deceived into
supposing that a building of somewhat plain design was in reality a
mansion erected in the richest style of the Italian Renaissance.
[Sidenote: DESTRUCTION OF WALL-PAINTINGS]
In 1825 the Hertenstein house came into the possession of a Lucerne
banker named Knörr, who pulled it down in order to replace it by a more
modern building. In spite of the efforts of a few art-lovers, this work
of demolition was carried out, and the town authorities made no attempt
to stop such an act of vandalism, or to save the only surviving record
they possessed of the art of by far the greatest artist their walls had
ever sheltered—a record which to-day would be rightly regarded as one of
their greatest treasures. It was only through the efforts of Colonel May
von Büren and Colonel Karl Pfyffer von Altishofen, who employed certain
local artists to make copies of the frescoes before the house was
finally destroyed, that any record at all of the decorations remains.
Time and the damp climate had so dimmed them, however, that it was found
necessary to wash them down with the town’s fire-engine before they
could be seen clearly enough for the artists to copy them. The copies,
which were made by the Lucerne painters Schwegler, Ulrich von
Eschenbach, Eglin, Marzohl, and an Italian, Trolli von Lavena, had to be
hurriedly done, and they naturally possess little or nothing of the
combined delicacy and force of the originals. Much of the purely
decorative work, the scroll and wreath ornament, and details in the
Renaissance style, in the use of which Holbein was to become so great a
master, had to be left uncopied, attention being concentrated on the
pictures and figure subjects. Still, what was done was sufficient to
show something of the ideas Holbein brought to the undertaking, the
influences he came under in his choice of subjects, and the methods he
employed in carrying them out. Colonel May persuaded Usteri, the painter
and poet, to visit Lucerne in order to give his opinion as to the value
of the paintings, but he was unable to do so until 1825, when the
demolition had already begun. Usteri directed the making of the copies,
and saw to it that the artists adhered as faithfully as possible to the
originals. No “restoration” was permitted; those parts which had
perished were left blank in the copies. The latter were made with the
view of publication, but they proved too inadequate, and the scheme was
dropped. In 1851 they were presented by Colonel May to the town library
of Lucerne, together with Usteri’s letters concerning them.[165]
VOL. I., PLATE 24.
[Illustration:
BENEDIKT VON HERTENSTEIN
1517
METROPOLITAN MUSEUM, NEW YORK
]
[Sidenote: BENEDIKT VON HERTENSTEIN]
Before turning to Holbein’s journey across the Alps in 1518, reference
must be made to a portrait painted by him during his first residence in
Lucerne, which is the only one by him so far discovered bearing the date
1517. This work, of considerable importance to the student making a
careful study of Holbein’s early development, is a likeness of Benedikt
von Hertenstein, one of the sons of his new patron, who was twenty-two
years of age at the time of the sitting. He was a member of the Council
in the year he was painted, and was slain at the battle of Bicocca in
1522. This portrait was acquired from a private collection in England in
1906 for the Metropolitan Museum of New York (Pl. 24).[166] He is
represented standing, facing the spectator, with his left hand resting
on the pommel of his sword. He wears a black under-dress and a white
shirt with an embroidered edge. His cloak or overcoat with wide upper
sleeves is of crimson, trimmed with dark green bands, and lined with
bright myrtle-green silk. His left hand is half hidden by the sleeve and
the right arm hangs down, the hand not being shown. His cap is of black
and scarlet velvet with gold tags, and a plain chain of gold links hangs
from his neck. He wears six rings on his left hand, the one on his first
finger being a signet ring with a coat of arms now almost illegible. The
pommel of his sword is of gold and silver ornamented with a design in
imitation of Cufic script in the fashion of Italian goldsmith’s work of
the period. His bushy hair almost hides the ears, and his eyes are small
and bright. The background, as in the Meyer portraits, is a study in
perspective, for Holbein has placed him within the angle of a wall,
along the two sides of which, over the sitter’s head, runs a stone
frieze carved with a representation of a Roman triumph, crowded with
small figures, in which the victor is seated in a chariot drawn by
prancing horses, and in front of him, among the soldiers and trumpeters,
a number of prisoners led captive. It has suffered rather severely from
repainting. The design, an imitation of an antique bas-relief, was no
doubt based upon Mantegna’s “Triumph,” which Holbein was at the same
time adapting for the façade of the Hertenstein house. A somewhat
similar design, though later in date, is to be seen on the drawing of a
dagger sheath in the Basel Gallery (Vol. ii., Pl. 46 (2)).[167] The wall
on the left is in shadow, and on it, immediately below the frieze, is
inscribed: “DA · ICH · HET · DIE · GESTALT · WAS · ICH · 22 · JAR · ALT
· 1517 · H · H · PINGEBAT.” This inscription is interesting as the only
one in German to be found on any one of his portraits, with the
exception of that of Fallen at Brunswick, and the addresses on the
letters in some of the other Steelyard portraits. The picture is painted
in oils on paper, and afterwards mounted on a panel, a method not
infrequently employed by Holbein in his earlier practice. The technical
skill displayed in it is already of a high order, though the
draughtsmanship is still a little laboured, and lacking in that ease and
certainty to which he afterwards attained, while the flesh tints are
paler and flatter than in his later work. It shows, nevertheless, a
distinct advance when compared with the Meyer portraits of the preceding
year. The draughtsmanship is firmer, the colour tones softer, and the
general effect produced is one of greater naturalness, though still far
behind the “Bonifacius Amerbach,” painted two years later, in subtlety
of line and harmony of colour. When the picture was purchased in 1906
the name of the sitter was unknown, and beyond the fact that at the
beginning of the last century it was in the possession of the Burckhardt
family, its history has not been traced; but by means of the coat of
arms on the ring it was identified three years later as Benedikt von
Hertenstein.[168] In 1826 Ulrich Hegner saw in Lucerne a portrait of his
father, Jakob von Hertenstein, of the same date, 1517, still in the
possession of one of his descendants, which he considered to be an
original work by Holbein, which would indicate that the artist, in
addition to including portraits of various members of the family in the
wall-paintings in the interior of the house, was also commissioned to
paint individual portraits of more than one of them. The portrait seen
by Hegner has now disappeared, but others of Hertenstein still remain in
the Town Hall and the Library of Lucerne. These, however, are not
contemporary likenesses, but later copies, possibly after an original by
Holbein now lost.
[Sidenote: THE VISIT TO LOMBARDY]
The great likelihood—indeed, the certainty—that Holbein, before these
wall-paintings were finally completed, paid, during 1518, a short visit
to Italy, is now generally acknowledged by most writers. It is true that
Carel van Mander distinctly states that “Hans Holbein never travelled in
Italy,” and the artist’s earliest biographer was, no doubt, correct, if
his words are to be understood as meaning that Holbein never made any
long sojourn in that country, or studied for a considerable period under
some Italian painter. This statement, however, in no way precludes a
visit of several months’ duration to Lombardy, of which Van Mander was
ignorant. From Lucerne the journey to the foot of the Alps was only a
matter of a few days, while traces of his presence in Altorf, which is
on the route to the St. Gotthard Pass, still remain. From Altorf the
Italian side of the mountains could be easily reached. The influence of
both Mantegna and Leonardo and the Milanese school of painting is
unmistakable in certain of his pictures, and though some of this may
have been due to earlier influences in his Augsburg days, received
through Hans Burgkmair and other German painters who had worked in
Italy, and to the study of engravings, they are not strong enough to
account satisfactorily for the very marked Italian influence to be seen
in such pictures as the early “Last Supper,” or the “Venus” and “Lais
Corinthiaca” of 1526. The indications of personal acquaintance with
Italian painting and architecture are even more strongly marked in
numerous designs for glass paintings, dealt with in a later
chapter.[169] It is therefore assumed that he crossed the Alps and
penetrated into the country at least as far as Milan and its
neighbourhood. Indeed, the careful researches of Dr. Ganz have removed
all doubts on the question.
The “Last Supper” in the Basel Gallery (No. 316) (Pl. 25),[170] which
must not be confounded with the still earlier version of the same
subject on canvas already described,[171] although badly damaged, bears
in its composition so striking a reminiscence of Leonardo’s celebrated
fresco in the refectory of the church of Santa Maria delle Grazie in
Milan, that it appears almost certain that Holbein must have seen it.
This panel painting, apparently the central part of a triptych, when it
came into the possession of Amerbach was already in a badly-damaged
state, due, no doubt, to injuries received during the religious
disturbances of 1529, which finally helped to drive Holbein for a second
time from Basel. It had been cut in two, and then roughly joined
together, while a piece was missing from either side, so that to-day
only nine apostles remain, though the hands and feet and parts of the
bodies of the others are still to be seen at the sides. It is described
in the Amerbach inventory as “ein nachtmal vf holtz mit olfarb H.
Holbein. Ist zerhöwen vnd wider zusammengeleimbt aber unfletig.” In 1750
it was again reset by Nikolaus Grooth, who repainted and restored it in
a hard and crude fashion, so that it is now very difficult to form any
adequate idea of the original scheme of colour, though the heads still
retain something of their original vigour and expression. The scene is
set in a loggia of plain Renaissance architecture, the blue sky seen
through its arched openings, against which branches of fig or vine stand
out, and a distant tower on the right. Christ, seated in the centre of
the table, with hands spread out before him, is depicted at the moment
when he exclaims, “One of you shall betray me.” This figure, both in the
expressive gesture of the hands, the position of the body, and the type
of features, follows closely the greater figure which evidently inspired
it. The group of St. John, St. Peter, and Judas is also based on the
corresponding group in Leonardo’s fresco. The youthful St. John, seated
next to the Saviour, and turning round to listen to St. Peter, who
stands behind him with his hand resting on St. John’s shoulder, is
admirably conceived and full of character. Judas, seated in front on the
left, rests his chin on his left hand, his strongly marked, almost
grotesque, face, convulsed with conflicting passions, and his right hand
pressed against the seat as though he were about to spring up and rush
from the table. The picture, in spite of the damage it has received,
shows a great advance upon the earlier “Last Supper,” both in power of
expression and technical execution. In its style of painting it has
considerable affinity with the “Noli Me Tangere” in Hampton Court, more
particularly with the distant figures of St. John and St. Peter in the
last-named picture, while the head of St. James, seen in profile, bears
a close resemblance to that of the Risen Christ. The background, too,
displays a decided Italian influence.[172]
VOL. I., PLATE 25.
[Illustration:
THE LAST SUPPER
Central Panel of a Triptych
BASEL GALLERY
]
[Sidenote: THE VISIT TO LOMBARDY]
Still stronger evidence of this journey to Lombardy is to be found in
Holbein’s numerous designs for painted glass,[173] which he produced
during the next six or seven years, designs which, in most cases, are
filled round the borders and in the backgrounds with rich and elaborate
architecture based upon Renaissance models. It is difficult to
understand how he could have produced so much work of this nature, so
filled with the beauty and dignity of the style upon which it was
founded, had he not had at least some personal acquaintance with the
original examples upon the far side of the Alps, which these drawings of
his so often suggest. A close comparison of certain of these studies
with the architectural details of some of the splendid Renaissance
buildings which he must have seen if this journey across the plains of
Lombardy did in reality take place, makes it almost certain, although
there are no documentary proofs, that he made drawings and sketches of
some of the principal edifices of Milan, the façade and interior of the
Certosa of Pavia, the monumental tombs of architectural design which are
to be met with throughout Northern Italy, and such cathedral churches as
those of Como and Lugano;[174] and that he must have studied also the
use made by the Italian painters of similar architectural features in
the backgrounds of their frescoes and paintings. It is difficult to
believe that his intimate knowledge of the true principles of that style
were gained merely by the study of a few engravings or isolated
pictures. Here and there, too, in those glass designs in which the
background is a landscape, there is more than one Alpine scene. In the
one with the figure of a Pope or Bishop, in the Basel Gallery (No.
334),[175] there is a view of the old Devil’s Bridge on the Andermatt
route, and the same bridge is to be seen in the “Table of Cebes”
woodcut. There is a view of the Rigi in the background of the woodcut of
“Jacob’s Ladder” in Thomas Wolff’s edition of the Pentateuch, 1523, and,
again, a representation of Lucerne in the woodcut of the “New
Jerusalem,” in the same publisher’s edition of the New Testament, 1523
(Pl. 70 (3)).[176]
In the course of his journey to and from Lombardy he probably made short
halts in more than one Swiss town. Hegner mentions pictures by him in
Coutrai, Zürich, Altorf, and Berne, but the works he enumerates, with
the exception of the painted table at Zürich, are not the work of
Holbein. There are, however, indications that he spent some time in
Altorf, in the canton Uri, from which district it has been suggested
that his family originally came, for the Holbein arms are almost
identical with those of that canton. In the church is a “Head of
Christ,” which local tradition gives to Holbein, and in the Convent of
the Capuchins still hangs a copy of the “Christ in the Tomb” of the
Basel Gallery. The “Head of Christ” has suffered so severely that it is
impossible to-day to say whether it is from his hand; the church
archives, which are said to have contained proofs of its authenticity,
were lost in a fire which occurred in 1799, and did a great amount of
damage, destroying, among other things, an altar-piece of the
“Crucifixion,” attributed to Holbein, painted on canvas, one of the
chief treasures of the church. The version of the “Christ in the Tomb”
in the monastery shows material differences from the original at Basel.
The body of Christ is no longer rigid in death. He has conquered it, and
the artist, whoever he may have been, has represented him as the giver
of eternal life, by means of rays of light which emanate from the
recumbent body. Above the figure is a medallion with the Burial, which
bears little likeness to Holbein’s work. M. Pierre Gauthiez suggests
that this Christ was painted by Holbein when under the immediate
influence of certain Lombard painters, but that it became so badly
damaged in course of time that it was restored and repainted by some not
very skilful worker.[177]
[Sidenote: DESIGNS FOR PAINTED GLASS]
Wherever Holbein may have wandered in search of work, he was back again
in Lucerne early in 1519. The town books contain records of payments
made to him for the painting of certain banners and pennons in the
spring of that year. It was a custom of the Lucernois to plant banners
on the gables and summits of their street fountains, as a signal for
assembly whenever there was question of war; and, in addition to this
custom, small flags of painted cloth were usually to be seen hanging in
such places.[178] On the 19th February 1519, Holbein was paid twelve
schillings for two flags of this kind, which were hung near the
cathedral, and on the 21st May of the same year he received one livre,
one schilling, six heller for banners for the fountain near the convent
of the Franciscans. It was round this fountain of the Cordeliers that
the shoemakers and sellers of various merchandise had their stalls, and
the neighbouring street was the quarter of the glass-painters. For these
latter craftsmen Holbein made several designs. There is one of these in
the Basel Gallery (No. 354), which, however, is not from Holbein’s own
hand, but merely a good workshop copy. It represents the standing figure
of the Virgin with the Child in her arms, under an arch with hanging
garlands, supported by pillars and pilasters with Renaissance ornament
in low relief, and appears to have been drawn in Lucerne, for the
background consists of an admirable little landscape study with a view
of the towers and roofs and the old covered bridge of that city, and
cloud-capped mountains in the background.[179] It was, however, designed
for some citizen of Basel, and may, therefore, have been done after he
had left Lucerne, and the background sketched in from memory. It forms
the left-hand half of a double window containing the patron saints of
Basel, of which the right-hand half still exists in the original glass
in the cloisters of Wettingen, representing the Emperor Heinrich II
holding a model of the minster, and with a shield containing the arms of
Basel at his feet. In its architectural details this window agrees with
the “Virgin and Child” drawing in the Amerbach Collection, which is in
pen and wash and lightly coloured.
A second window design, also in the Amerbach Collection, dated 1518, and
signed “H.H.,” represents the arms of State-councillor Holdermeier of
Lucerne.[180] Under an open archway with pillars inlaid with marble
stand three peasants with grotesque head-dresses, busily talking,
conceived by the artist with considerable humour. One rests on his
scythe, another carries a sack over his shoulder, while the one in the
middle holds a basket of eggs. Over the centre of the arch is a small
tablet with the date, and on either side of it, in the spandrils,
peasants are shown at work in the fields, mowing and reaping. In the
centre foreground is placed a shield with the Holdermeier arms. A third
design for painted glass of this period with the arms of Hans
Fleckenstein of Lucerne, and dated 1517, is in the Brunswick Gallery,
and was lent to the Holbein Exhibition in Basel in 1897-8.[181]
Two other existing designs appear to belong to Holbein’s Lucerne period.
The first is the very beautiful drawing in the Basel Gallery of the
Archangel Michael as the Weigher of Souls (Pl. 26).[182] It is evidently
a drawing for a wooden statue. The Archangel Michael as the Soul Weigher
was the patron saint of the cloisters of Beromünster, near Lucerne, and
most probably, according to Dr. Ganz, this design was a commission from
Holbein’s patrons, Peter and Jakob von Hertenstein. Jakob was feoffee of
the cloisters, and Peter, canon of Basel, was from 1483 until his death
in 1519 also canon of the minster. He had his own private chapel, to
which he presented various works of art, including a window of painted
glass with a representation of the Archangel, which is now in the
Lucerne Museum.[183] The winged figure of the youthful saint stands
erect upon a slight carved bracket, raising a great sword over his head
with one hand, and with the other holding a large pair of scales just
clear of the ground, in one of which is Satan, with wings and a long
curled tail, and in the other a naked child with a nimbus, representing
the soul. St. Michael, too, wears a nimbus above his masses of curled
hair, and gazes down with a smile on the upturned face of the Evil One,
whom he is about to strike with his sword. He is clad in clinging
drapery, which leaves one leg bare, and a breastplate richly chased with
a Renaissance flower-and-leaf design, a long cloak falling from his
shoulders to the ground. The figure displays extraordinary grace and
energy, and in the beauty of its conception and its draughtsmanship
recalls the best work of the Italian painters, and was evidently
accomplished immediately after his return from Lombardy, when the
stimulus of that journey was still at its highest and strongest.
The second drawing, in Indian ink, with pen and bistre outlines, in the
British Museum (No. 14), is a round composition nearly nine inches in
diameter, representing miners at work on the face of a mountain side
(Pl. 27).[184] In the foreground is a rocky platform on which two men
are driving wedges into the rock with hammers with long pliant handles.
Others are working with smaller hammers, and one, with a lantern
fastened to his cap, is mounting to the platform by a ladder. Above them
another man is ascending in the same way to a higher part of the quarry,
while from an opening on the right a miner is pushing a truck full of
ore along a wooden bridge, and another, down below, is raking the stone
into a tray. Various wooden huts are placed here and there on the
ledges. According to Dr. E. His, this drawing was in Basel in the
sixteenth century, and was then copied by an unknown artist as an
illustration to a manuscript book on mining by Andreas Ryff. It was
probably made by Holbein in the neighbourhood of the St. Gotthard Pass,
on his way to or from Lombardy.
VOL. I., PLATE 26.
[Illustration:
THE ARCHANGEL MICHAEL AS WEIGHER OF SOULS
_Drawing in Indian ink_
BASEL GALLERY
]
VOL. I., PLATE 27.
[Illustration:
MINERS AT WORK
_Drawing in Indian ink, pen, and bistre_
BRITISH MUSEUM
]
[Sidenote: SACRED PICTURES FORMERLY IN LUCERNE]
Patin mentions five pictures painted by Holbein which in his day were in
the church of the Augustines in Lucerne—a “Nativity,” the “Adoration of
the Kings,” “Christ disputing with the Doctors,” a “Sancta Veronica,”
and a “Taking down from the Cross,”[185] but Hegner could find no traces
of them. They probably formed a triptych. M. Gauthiez suggests that
these pictures were the result of his study of the paintings of the
Lombard masters, the titles alone suggesting a list of works by
Luini.[186]
The last-named of these pictures, the “Taking down from the Cross”—in
which, according to Patin’s description, Christ’s body was on the
ground, the head resting on the Virgin’s lap, and surrounded by Mary
Magdalene, Saint John, Nicodemus, and other persons, with the two
thieves still on the Cross—was still in the church in the middle of the
seventeenth century. Two sketches exist, with notes as to the colour,
and an inscription stating that they were drawn in Lucerne from
Holbein’s altar-piece in the church of the Augustines by C. Meyer in
1648. Dr. Ganz has recently published a copy of this picture,[187] which
is in Palermo, and draws attention to the fact that it agrees in
dimensions with the lost original, which was in the possession of the
painter Marquard Wocher in Basel in 1834, at which time it was copied by
the painter Hieronymus Hess. Another copy, half the size of the
original, was exhibited at the Exhibition of Early German Art at the
Burlington Fine Arts Club in 1906, and a third is still in the sacristy
of one of the Lucerne churches. In addition, there is a drawing of the
group of the two chief figures, Christ and the Virgin, in the Basel
Gallery,[188] a free copy of the central group of Christ and the Virgin,
signed H. H. W. and H. H. It was done towards the end of the sixteenth
century either by Hans Jörg Wannewetsch of Basel, or Hans Heinrich
Wegmann of Lucerne.
------------------------------------------------------------------------