CITIZEN OF BASEL
Holbein’s return to Basel—Enters the Painters’ Guild “zum
Himmel”—Becomes a burgher—His marriage—Portrait of Bonifacius
Amerbach—The Amerbach Collection—Church pictures—The “Nativity” and
“Adoration of the Kings” at Freiburg—Hans Oberried—The altar-piece of
the “Passion of Christ” at Basel—Italian influences in his work—The
“Noli Me Tangere” at Hampton Court—“Christ as the Man of Sorrows” and
“Mary as Mater Dolorosa”—Designs for sacred pictures or
wall-paintings—The “Dead Christ in the Tomb”—The Solothurn
Madonna—History of the picture—“St. Ursula” and “St. George” at
Karlsruhe—The organ doors of Basel Cathedral.
IN the summer or autumn of 1519 Holbein was back again in Basel. His
return may have been due to lack of sufficient employment in Lucerne, or
it may be that he was recalled by news of the death of his brother
Ambrosius. As already pointed out, no traces of the latter can be found
after this year, and it is generally supposed that he died about this
time. If such were the case, it is natural that Hans should return, in
order to wind up his brother’s affairs, and it may be, to complete any
commissions he may have left unfinished. Slight indications, also, of a
visit to his father, who was then working in Isenheim, not far from
Basel, are perhaps afforded by his designs for painted glass at Murbach
and Andlau, described in a later chapter, which he produced in the
following year.[189] He now made Basel his permanent residence, and from
that time until he came to England, seven years later, he was very
busily employed in painting portraits, altar-pieces for churches,
decorating house-fronts and interiors, and supplying designs for book
illustrations, and for the glass-painters, armourers, and metal-workers
of his adopted city.
On September 25, 1519, he became a member of the Painters’ Guild, the
“Zunft zum Himmel.” The entry runs: “Item, Hans Holbein the painter has
been received into the Guild on Sunday before St. Michael’s Day, in the
year 1519, and has sworn to preserve the statutes of the Guild like
every other Guild brother of the painters.” (“Item es hat die Zunfft
entffangen Hans Holbein der moller vff suntag vor sant michelss Dag im
XVCXIX jor vnd hat geschworen Der Zunft ordnung zu halten wie ein ander
Zunfftbruder der moller.”[190] His coat of arms,[191] a black bull’s
head with ringed nose, on a yellow or gold ground, surmounted by a red
star between the horns, and with “Hans Holbein de maller” inscribed
above it, painted at the time he was admitted a member, remained in the
Guild Chamber until modern times, and is now in the Basel Historical
Museum. The entrance fee was one pound three shillings. He soon appears
to have become an important member of the confraternity, for in the
following year, on June 25, 1520, he was elected chamber-master of the
Guild, as set forth in the treasurer’s book. A few days afterwards, on
July 3, 1520, he obtained the rights of citizenship; probably a
residence of twelve months was necessary before the freedom of the city
could be obtained, and Holbein had now been back in Basel for about a
year. The entry in the town book runs as follows:—“Item, Tuesday before
St. Ulrich’s Day anno 20 Hans Holbein of Augsburg, painter, has received
the right of citizenship, and has sworn in the customary manner.” (“Item
Zinstag vor Vlrici anno XX 1st Hans Holbeinen von Augspurg dem maler das
burgrecht glichenn. Et juravit pro ut moris est.”)[192] Less than a
month afterwards his name occurs, on the 1st of August 1520, in the
records of the Court of Justice. The wife of the painter Michel Schuman
sued him for a debt of eight pounds, which he was condemned to pay, a
proceeding recalling similar monetary difficulties in his father’s life.
[Sidenote: BECOMES A BURGHER AND MARRIES]
It was probably about the same time that Holbein married Elsbeth Schmid,
the widow of a tanner, with one son named Franz, who afterwards followed
the occupation of his father. It appears possible, therefore, that she
may have been possessed of some means, and that she carried on the
tannery business until her son was of age. Perhaps both marriage and
citizenship were necessary qualifications for membership of the Guild
“zum Himmel,” as was the case with other guilds elsewhere, and some such
regulation may have been one of the chief causes which brought about
Holbein’s early marriage. In Breslau, for instance, a painter who wished
to settle in the town as a master was obliged to be married, or if not,
must have taken a wife within a year and a day of his entry into the
Guild, under a penalty of ten marks.[193] Additional proof that the
marriage must have taken place in 1520 or 1521 is afforded by the
Solothurn “Madonna,” dated 1522, for which Holbein’s wife and infant son
served as the models for the Virgin and Child.
A few weeks after his admittance into the Guild, Holbein finished one of
the most beautiful portraits of his Basel period—that of Bonifacius
Amerbach, to whose unfailing admiration of Holbein’s art the present
fine collection of his works in the Basel Gallery is due. Bonifacius was
the youngest of the three sons of Hans Amerbach, the scholar, and
afterwards printer and publisher, who, born in Reutlingen, settled in
Basel in 1484, where he set up a printing-press which soon became
famous, and attracted a number of learned men, who assisted him in
preparing books and translations for publication, which included several
fine editions of the early Fathers. His three sons were all brilliant
scholars. Bonifacius, born in 1492, was about five years older than
Holbein. His education was a very thorough one, and while pursuing his
studies he was closely associated with various scholars of an older
generation than his own, such as Conrad Leontorius, Gebwiler, Beatus
Rhenanus, and the Franciscan monk, Johann Conon of Nuremburg, under whom
he studied Greek. Later on he went to the University of Freiburg, where
he lived with Ulrich Zasius, who was both his teacher and friend. He
afterwards continued the study of the law at Avignon under Alciat, and
at Montpellier, and in 1525 received the appointment of professor of law
in the Basel University. He became a close friend of Erasmus, hardly a
day passing without some intercourse between them. The elder scholar,
who had the highest admiration for his abilities and learning, grew to
regard him almost as a son, and appointed him his heir. Contemporary
references to him speak not only of his great scholastic gifts, but of
the modesty and amiability of his character, his integrity, his lively
wit, and his talent for music and poetry. One such reference, quoted by
Hegner,[194] speaks of him as a tall man, with a charming countenance,
who made use of brave, serious language, and appeared modestly attired
in a long coat.
It is to be assumed from Amerbach’s enthusiasm in collecting every
picture, drawing, and design by Holbein which he could find, that the
two young men became personal friends, or, at least, that their
acquaintance, first made in the latter’s painting-room, grew to be a
closer one than was usually formed between sitter and artist in days
when the painter and his craft were not always very highly considered,
or his social standing more than a very modest one. Amerbach also
collected pictures and sketches by other artists, and engravings, coins,
and antiquities of all kinds. Upon his death in 1562 his son Basilius
inherited the collection, and, inheriting also the artistic tastes of
his father, he added, in course of time, a number of important examples,
among them various works by Holbein, including the copy of the _Praise
of Folly_ with the marginal drawings. In 1586 he drew up an inventory
and catalogue of the collection, which by that time had obtained
considerable reputation. It remained in the possession of his
descendants until the middle of the seventeenth century, when it was
offered for sale, and was purchased by his native city for the very
moderate price of 9000 rix-dollars in the summer of 1662. In addition to
examples of metal-work, ivory carvings, coins, and various objects of
decorative art, the collection contained forty-nine paintings, of which
fifteen were attributed to Holbein, and a chest of thirty-seven drawers,
all full of sketches and engravings, among them one hundred and four
original drawings by Holbein, a sketch-book with eighty-five studies,
one hundred and eleven woodcuts after his designs, the illustrated
_Praise of Folly_, and two copies each of the “Dance of Death” and “Old
Testament” woodcuts. Modern criticism has somewhat reduced these
numbers, but the collection is one of extraordinary value, and, thanks
to the energy and artistic taste of the father and son who formed it,
and thus preserved many examples which otherwise would have been
scattered and lost, it is possible for the Holbein student of to-day to
obtain very adequate knowledge of much that the great artist
accomplished during the earlier half of his life.[195]
[Sidenote: BONIFACIUS AMERBACH]
In Holbein’s portrait of Bonifacius Amerbach, in the Basel Gallery (No.
314) (Pl. 28),[196] the jurist is represented to the shoulders, almost
in profile to the spectator’s left, a little less than the size of life.
He wears a black velvet cap and a black gown with a fur collar, open to
show the under-vest of blue-green damask and small white ruff round the
neck. The fine, handsome face, with its prominent nose, is of a warm,
ruddy complexion, and the bushy hair, which almost hides the ears, and
the beard and moustache, are of chestnut colour. On a tree-trunk on the
left hangs a large framed tablet with a Latin inscription, probably
composed by Erasmus, in which the picture itself is made to extol the
art of the painter for its truth to nature. Below these lines the names
of the artist and the sitter, and the date, October 14, 1519, are given—
“BON · AMORBACCHIVM ·
IO · HOLBEIN · DEPINGEBAT ·
A · M̅ · D̅ · X̅I̅X̅̅ · PRID · EID · OCTOBR.”
The head stands out against a pale blue-green sky, with the snow-covered
crests of the Schneeberg in the distant background, and the branch of a
vine or fig-tree on the right. The richness and transparency of the
colour is remarkable; it is, perhaps, of all Holbein’s portraits the
most transparent in effect, with no trace of the dryness which sometimes
characterises his later work.[197] In technical execution it shows a
considerable advance on the earlier portraits of Meyer and his wife and
of Benedikt von Hertenstein, the modelling and the minute and accurate
draughtsmanship of the details, such as the beard and the hair, being
already almost as masterly and assured as in his greatest portraits
painted fourteen or fifteen years later. As a study of character and
expression, too, it is very striking. The combined strength and
refinement of Amerbach’s nature, and the kindliness and sense of humour
which shine from his deep blue eyes, below projecting brows, have been
admirably rendered, and in many ways the portrait shows that Holbein had
already attained almost, if not quite, to the full maturity of his
powers. In it, too, can be seen for the first time in his portraiture
the practical application of the experience he must have gained during
his visit to Italy, for in the lighter, gayer, scheme of colour, and the
change in technique, which gradually developed into the enamel-like
surface of his flesh tints which is so characteristic a feature of his
English portraits, the influence of the painters of Lombardy, such as
Leonardo, Mantegna, Luini, and others, is plainly evident.[198] In the
Amerbach inventory it is described as: “Meines vatters conterfehtung in
der iugend H. Holbeins vf holz mit ölfarb.” There is an old copy of it
in the Karlsruhe Gallery.
VOL. I., PLATE 28.
[Illustration:
BONIFACIUS AMERBACH
1519
BASEL GALLERY
]
[Sidenote: SACRED PAINTINGS FOR CHURCHES]
During the first years of his citizenship Holbein received a number of
commissions for sacred paintings for churches, including the cathedral.
For the last-named building he painted the great folding doors of the
organ-case, and possibly the altar-piece, now lost, of which, however,
the wings, with scenes from the Passion, remain, among the most valued
possessions of the Basel Gallery. A still earlier connection with the
cathedral works is proved by an entry in the Bishop’s court-treasury
accounts for September 1520; and that at this time, only a month or two
after he had taken up his rights of citizenship, he was not too proud to
undertake tasks of the humblest kind, is shown by the nature of the
commission, which was merely for the painting over of some
stonework.[199] Only a few of his sacred works have survived. Others, no
doubt, were destroyed during the religious disturbances of 1529, when so
many of the pictures and works of art in the Basel churches were burnt
or shattered to pieces by the mob.
Old copies or engravings exist of several of these destroyed pictures,
so that some idea can be obtained of the originals. In all instances
they appear to be works of the early Basel period. Earliest of all,
possibly one of the very first pictures painted by him in that city, is
a “Christ on the Cross between Mary and John,” of which there is a copy
in the Basel Gallery. This copy, according to the Amerbach inventory,
was made by a Bavarian painter, Jakob Clauser, a contemporary and
associate of Holbein. A painting of “Christ taken Prisoner,” some years
later in date, is now only known from an engraving by W. Akersloot, done
in 1664. This is a very fine composition, with striking effects of
lighting produced by the flaming torches and a large lantern carried by
the soldiers, recalling the earlier picture in the first “Passion”
series on canvas, as well as “The Arrest” in the Basel altar-piece and
the “Adoration of the Shepherds” at Freiburg. There are also two
etchings by Hollar after two lost works by Holbein, one representing the
“Lamentations over Christ after the taking down from the Cross”
(Parthey, 109), which appears to have been the central panel of a
triptych, and the other a figure of “St. Barbara” in a landscape
(Parthey, 176), which bears a close resemblance to the glass design
representing the same saint in the Basel Gallery, described in a later
chapter.[200] Finally, there is a series of nine paintings on canvas,
representing the Prophets, shown in pairs, now in the Basel Gallery, and
coming from the Faesch Collection. According to the Faesch inventory,
these are copies made by Bartholomäus Sarburgh after Holbein, and Patin
states that the originals, which have now disappeared, were taken by
Sarburgh to Belgium.[201] These copies and engravings have all been
reproduced by Dr. Ganz in his latest work on the master.[202]
VOL. I., PLATE 29.
[Illustration:
ADORATION OF THE SHEPHERDS
Inner side of the left wing
of the Oberried Altar-piece
UNIVERSITY CHAPEL, FREIBURG MINSTER
]
[Illustration:
ADORATION OF THE KINGS
Inner side of the right wing
of the Oberried Altar-piece
UNIVERSITY CHAPEL, FREIBURG MINSTER
]
[Sidenote: “THE NATIVITY”]
Among those which escaped the fury of the iconoclasts only one or two
are dated, but all of them were produced between the years 1519 and
1526. One of the earliest, “The Last Supper,” has been already
described; two others of about the same date are now in the University
Chapel of the minster at Freiburg-im-Breisgau. They are the two wings of
an altar-piece, with curved tops, representing “The Nativity” and “The
Adoration of the Kings” (Pl. 29).[203] In both panels the artist has
striven to achieve striking contrasts of light and shade. In “The
Nativity” the figures, which are very small, are placed amid the ruined
splendours of some palace of Renaissance architecture, with tall marble
pillars, carved capitals, and shattered arches, through which the light
of the moon, cloud-obscured, glimmers faintly. The chief illumination
emanates from the Infant Christ, who lies, a small nude figure, on his
white-covered little bed. The soft, supernatural brilliance lights up
the faces and figures of Mary and Joseph, who bend over the Child in
adoration. This unusual effect of lighting is also to be found in a
second painting of “The Nativity” in Freiburg Minster, a fine example of
the work of Hans Baldung Grien, completed in 1516; and again in
Correggio’s famous “Night,” painted some years later. In Holbein’s
picture this light also plays over the small angels who surround the
bed, and less brightly on the figure of one of the shepherds peering
round a pillar on the left, and on the undersides of the arches
overhead. The wings of the attendant angels, instead of springing from
the shoulders, grow along and form part of the arms, apparently an
original conception of the painter’s.[204] In the distance, forming a
radiant patch of light amid the darkness of the background, is seen the
angel who is hastening to carry the glad tidings to the shepherds.
Above, in the sky, the moon also bends and does homage to the new-born
Child; to suggest this, Holbein has represented its disc as turned down
towards the bed, and foreshortened.[205] The source from which this
arrangement was taken was the passage in the Apocrypha: “And behold the
cave was filled with a light, surpassing the brilliancy of tapers and
torches and greater than sunlight.” The effect of the gradually
diminishing radiance, which finally loses itself amid the dimly seen
ruins, where it mingles with the pale effulgence of the moon, has been
finely rendered, and though the picture has suffered some damage, it
still retains much of its charm, particularly in the small figures of
the angels with their graceful gestures.
In the “Adoration of the Kings,” the personages are grouped in front of
a great half-ruined building, more massive and less ornate than the one
in the “Nativity,” whose walls and broken towers, upon which vegetation
grows, recede into the distance. Overhead shines the Star of Bethlehem,
which has guided the kings on their journey, so bright, in spite of the
clouds which partly veil it, as to make the daylight seem almost dark.
One of the members of the retinue is gazing upwards at it, and is forced
to shield his eyes with his hand, so great is its brilliance. The Virgin
is seated with the Child on her knees, before whom the eldest king, an
old man with a long grey beard, and dressed in a red robe and a large
ermine cape, is kneeling in adoration and offering a golden cup. On the
left stands the Moorish king, in white, waiting his turn to present his
gifts, and in front of him is a greyhound, which also is looking towards
the Child. The second of the three worshippers is on the right, a
dark-bearded man, with white ribbons fluttering from his crown, and his
offering held in front of him. Numerous figures of attendants are seen
in the background. In both pictures the head of Mary is a very
expressive one. In a narrow compartment at the bottom of each panel the
donor, Hans Oberried, and his family are represented kneeling in a long
row. On the one side, under the “Nativity,” are the donor and his six
sons; on the other, under the “Adoration,” his wife, Amalie
Tschekkenbürlin, and his four daughters. At the front of each row of
figures is a shield with the coat of arms of the two families.
These two panels, which were once the wings of an arched altar-piece,
the centre panel of which has disappeared, have suffered considerably in
the course of their wanderings, more particularly the “Adoration,” from
injudicious repaintings and repairs, so that much of the beauty of the
original colouring has been lost. They appear to have been among
Holbein’s earliest sacred works after his return from Lucerne, and in
them German and Italian influences are commingled; but in spite of their
charm and _naïveté_, they do not show that mastery of technique which is
already to be found in such a portrait as that of Amerbach, though this
no doubt is largely owing to repairs and restoration by some later hand.
This less assured touch is particularly noticeable in the figures of the
donor and his family.
They were a commission from the merchant Hans Oberried, a native of
Freiburg, at the time a town councillor of Basel, in which town he had
been resident for nearly thirty years, but who, as an adherent of the
Catholic party, was dismissed from office during the religious
disturbances of 1529. He therefore renounced his citizenship, and, like
Erasmus and Amerbach, left the town and returned to Freiburg, where
members of his family still lived. It has been suggested that he ordered
this altar-piece of Holbein for presentation to the church of the
Carthusian Monastery in Basel, in which a near relative of his wife’s,
Hieronymus Tschekkenbürlin, was prior. This monastery was in Little
Basel, where the Catholic party were in the ascendant, so that some of
their pictures and church ornaments were saved from the fury of the mob.
Oberried may, therefore, have succeeded in carrying off the two panels
with him, though forced to leave the centre one behind, as too big for
concealment. His name occurs on one occasion in the Basel town records
in connection with Holbein. On September 14, 1521, the Council paid to
him a sum of money due to the painter—probably in connection with the
Town Hall wall-paintings—which was possibly in discharge of a debt which
the councillor had failed to obtain from the artist.[206]
Oberried died in the same year as the painter, 1543, but the two panels
do not appear to have been placed in the chapel of the minster until
October 17, 1554, on which day the altar over which they hang was
consecrated. With the exception of two short intervals, they have
remained ever since in Freiburg. During the Thirty Years War they were
sent to Schaffhausen for safety. From there the Elector Maximilian I of
Bavaria had them brought to Munich for his inspection, and later on they
were taken to Ratisbon, in order to be shown to the Emperor Ferdinand
III. In 1796 they were carried away by the French, but were returned
from Colmar in 1808.[207] They were then replaced over the altar of the
University Chapel in the choir of the minster, where they still remain,
the only church paintings by Holbein still to be found hanging within
the walls of a consecrated building. About the time of their return from
France they appear to have undergone a severe restoration.
[Sidenote: “PASSION OF CHRIST” ALTAR-PIECE]
The altar-piece in the Basel Gallery (No. 315) (Pl. 30),[208] consisting
of eight scenes from the Passion of Christ, on four upright panels,
forming the wings of a triptych, was evidently painted after Holbein’s
return from those wanderings which took him for a short period over the
Alps, for in composition and colour-scheme it displays a marked North
Italian influence. At one time it was regarded throughout Switzerland as
Holbein’s masterpiece. Nothing is known of its early history, but it was
held in the highest estimation throughout the seventeenth and eighteenth
centuries. According to tradition, it was originally painted for the
cathedral of Basel, and was, by some means or other, saved from
destruction during the troubles of 1529. In this case tradition appears
to have probability on its side.[209] On November 5, 1770, it was
removed from the Basel Town Hall, where it had been hanging for more
than two hundred years, and was placed in the Library among the other
art treasures of the city, in which building the collection was housed
until the present Gallery was built. Numerous early references to it are
to be found which testify to its great reputation in the past. Sandrart
was enthusiastic in its praises. “The most excellent and the crown of
all his art,” he wrote, “is the Passion of Christ, painted on a panel in
eight compartments, and preserved in the Town Hall at Basel; a work in
which all that art can do is to be found, both as regards the devotion
and the grace of the persons represented, whether religious or secular,
or of a higher or lower class, and with respect to the figures,
building, landscape, day and night. This panel testifies to the honour
and fame of its master, giving place to none either in Germany or Italy,
and justly bearing the laurel wreath among ancient works.”[210]
Sandrart, when painting the portrait of Maximilian I of Bavaria, who was
a great art-collector, spoke so highly of this work that the latter
determined to possess it. He is said to have offered the Baselers any
price they liked to put upon it; and, having already succeeded in
tempting the Nurembergers to part with Dürer’s “Apostles,” although the
painter had bequeathed them to his native city, he hoped to be equally
successful in this instance; but the Basel councillors were less
mercenary, and refused his offer.
VOL. I., PLATE 30.
[Illustration]
[Illustration:
THE PASSION OF CHRIST
Outer sides of the Wings of an Altar-Piece
BASEL GALLERY
]
[Sidenote: “PASSION OF CHRIST” ALTAR-PIECE]
In more recent days this altar-piece has been subjected to severe and
unfavourable criticism. Rumohr refused to accept Holbein as its author,
and Mr. Wornum regarded it as a careful work by the elder Holbein,
though better in grouping and decoration than was usual with him. He
could not see in it any sign of the younger Holbein’s stupendous power
of grasping and representing individual character, and thought that
though the composition might possibly be his, the actual painting was
certainly the work of some other hand.[211] Unfortunately, in 1771,
immediately after the picture’s transference from the Town Hall to the
Library, it was placed in the hands of Nikolaus Grooth of Stuttgart for
restoration, who succeeded only too well in removing all the original
beauty of the colouring, though leaving the drawing much as he found it.
Though following to the best of his ability Holbein’s colour-scheme, he
completely destroyed its harmony, and obliterated all signs of the
delicacy of the painter’s brushwork by the garish tones and smooth
finish which he gave to the whole surface.[212] The picture thus retains
little of its early beauty, charm, and freshness, but in spite of the
superadded paint of the restorer, it is an undoubted and an important
work by the master of about the year 1520. This can be seen most
clearly, perhaps, when the picture is studied from photographs, in which
the eye is not misled by gaudy and inharmonious colour. It is, no doubt,
owing to this painful restoration that more than one earlier writer has
refused to regard it as Holbein’s handiwork. On the other hand, Woltmann
was of opinion that Grooth’s restoration was limited to careful cleaning
and slight retouching, and he states that this is proved by existing
records in the minutes of the University.[213] The general effect of the
small pictures of which it is composed is also marred by the heavy
upright bars of the gold frame which divide each wing into two parts.
The top is circular, and Holbein has divided each panel into two by a
horizontal band of scroll and leaf ornament in gold. The four scenes in
the upper half, running from left to right, are “Christ on the Mount of
Olives,” “The Kiss of Judas,” “Christ before the High Priest,” and “The
Scourging”; and in the lower half, “Christ Mocked,” “Christ bearing the
Cross,” “The Crucifixion,” and “The Burial.” This arrangement gives a
series of high, narrow compartments, about 26 in. high by 13 in. wide,
and in the filling of them the artist has adapted his composition to
this somewhat unusual shape with remarkable skill.
VOL. I., PLATE 31.
[Illustration:
CHRIST BEARING THE CROSS
Details of the outer sides of the wings of the “Passion” Altar-piece
BASEL GALLERY
]
[Illustration:
THE CRUCIFIXION
Details of the outer sides of the wings of the “Passion” Altar-piece
BASEL GALLERY
]
[Sidenote: “NOLI ME TANGERE” AT HAMPTON COURT]
In spite of the cruel treatment to which it has been subjected, enough
of Holbein’s original work remains to show a striking advance in
composition, power of conception, and dramatic feeling when compared
with the “Passion” pictures produced by the two brothers some four or
five years earlier. Each one of the subjects forms a small but complete
picture in itself, but at the same time they have been combined, by a
judicious arrangement of light and shade, into one harmonious whole. In
each composition the story is told with considerable dramatic force, and
the facial types are in most cases less grotesque than in the earlier
“Passion,” in which an exaggerated ugliness of feature is made use of in
order to bring home to the spectator the hateful character of the
persecutors of Christ. Here and there the drawing is somewhat faulty,
more particularly where violent action is shown, as in the movements of
the soldiers with whips and rods in “The Scourging.” In several of the
scenes the lighting is managed with admirable effect. In “Christ on the
Mount of Olives” the black darkness of the night is brightly illuminated
by the flying angel upholding the Cross, the radiance falling upon the
uplifted face of the kneeling Saviour and on the heads of the disciples
sleeping at his side, while in the distance the light from a single
torch glitters on the helmets of the advancing soldiers. In the next two
scenes the light comes entirely from the torches of the soldiery. In the
“Kiss of Judas” it illuminates the trunk and lower branches of a great
tree, the heads of Christ and Judas, and the uplifted spears and
battle-axes of the mob of gesticulating and shouting men who are roughly
binding their captive. In the foreground St. Peter, kneeling over the
body of Malchus, holds the knife aloft with which he is about to strike
off the latter’s ear. The scene is full of dramatic movement. In “Christ
before the High Priest,” the torches light up the front of an elaborate
Renaissance building and the raised seat of Caiaphas. Both the
“Scourging” and “Mocking” take place within the interior of an equally
elaborate edifice, with large arches and marble pillars, the light in
the former coming through circular windows. In the “Scourging” the
utmost vehemence is displayed in the actions of the soldiers; in the
“Mocking” the figure of Christ has great nobility of character. In
“Christ bearing the Cross” (Pl. 31 (1)) the foreground is crowded with
figures issuing through the gateway of the town, one of the round towers
of which rises to the top of the picture, while in the distance are seen
the walls and roofs and bridges of a city by a river, with horsemen and
other figures, and lofty snow mountains in the background. In “Christ on
the Cross” (Pl. 31 (2)) the three crucified figures stand out strongly
against an inky black background. In the final scene the dead body of
Christ is borne across a green meadow towards the entrance to the tomb,
which is cut in a lofty rock, in the fissures of which trees and bushes
are growing, while some way off the Virgin and others with her stand
overcome with grief. The whole composition of this altar-piece shows the
influence of Holbein’s Italian visit in more ways than one; and in it he
has abandoned to a very great extent the earlier practice of his country
in the figures of his soldiers, who are no longer dressed in the German
costume of his day, but in the Roman helmet and accoutrements such as he
must have seen in contemporary Italian pictures, more particularly those
of Mantegna. Although the types of some of the heads are distinctly
German, recalling similar heads in his father’s pictures and his own
earlier works, the predominating influence is Italian. At about the time
of his visit to Italy Luini and Gaudenzio Ferrari were at work together
upon the screen for the ancona in the chapel of Sant’ Abbondio in the
cathedral at Como, and it is suggested, not only that Holbein must have
studied this, and earlier works by the two Italian masters in the same
building, such as the great altar-piece in the Sant’ Abbondio Chapel now
regarded as largely Ferrari’s work, and the beautiful altar-piece by
Luini in the neighbouring chapel of St. Jerome, but that possibly he
also entered the studio of one or the other of them for a short period.
Reminiscences of Ferrari in particular can be traced in this and other
sacred paintings produced by Holbein at about this time.[214] For his
background motives he appears to have made use in some instances of
buildings close at hand; in others traces of his journey over the Alps
can be seen. Thus, in the “Scourging” the setting recalls the Romanesque
architecture of the neighbouring church of Othmarsheim, that of the
“Mocking” the interior of the cathedral of Basel, while the round tower
in the “Cross-Bearing” resembles the flanking towers to one of the gates
of the same city.[215]
The small picture of “Mary Magdalen at the Holy Sepulchre,” or “Noli Me
Tangere,”[216] in Hampton Court Palace (No. 599) (Pl. 32), is closely
allied to the Basel altar-piece, and was probably painted at about the
same period, possibly in 1520 or the following year. The light of dawn
is stealing over the landscape, driving away the darkness of night, well
suggesting “the early morning, when it was yet dark.” On the right rises
a great rock, with trees and bushes growing over it, and at its base the
square opening of the tomb, from which issues a dim, supernatural light,
making visible the two angels in white raiment seated at the head and
foot of the grave. In the centre of the foreground stands Mary Magdalen,
a look of wonder on her face, holding a marble vase of spikenard in her
left hand, and the right stretched out towards the risen Christ, who
shrinks back, both hands held up with a gesture of repulsion, as he
exclaims, “Touch Me not.” Mary’s head is bound with a turban, and a dark
cloak almost covers her dress. This figure is reminiscent of an Italian
model. In the distance are seen the small figures of Peter and John,
hastening away from the empty sepulchre to spread the news of the
Resurrection. Peter, still doubting his eyes, is eagerly gesticulating
as he strides over the ground, while John, who “saw and believed,” walks
more calmly by his side. Behind them rises a tall tree into the dim
morning sky, of the pyramidal shape so familiar in Italian paintings of
the period, while in the background the breaking dawn lights the crosses
on Calvary. It is, as Knackfuss says, “a wonderful masterpiece of
poetical painting.”[217]
The face of Our Lord bears a strong resemblance to that of the Christ in
the “Christ before the High Priest” subject in the Basel altar-piece.
Indeed, both in treatment and feeling, there is a close resemblance
between these two works. The landscape in the Hampton Court picture has
much in common with that of “Christ on the Mount of Olives” and of “The
Entombment” of the altar-painting. In the latter, too, is to be found
the same bush-grown rock of yellow colour, with the square opening of
the sepulchre, while in each picture the light and shade and colouring
are much alike.
VOL. I., PLATE 32.
[Illustration:
“NOLI ME TANGERE”
Christ appearing to Mary Magdalen
HAMPTON COURT
]
When attention was first called to this work some forty years ago,
critics were divided in their opinions as to its authorship. Dr.
Woltmann ascribed it to Bartholomäus Bruyn, and several other names in
place of Holbein’s have been suggested from time to time. His latest
English biographer, Mr. Gerald Davies, assigns it to “a painter of the
German school, who had probably seen and been deeply influenced by the
grave and earnest works of Holbein at Basel.” “Neither on the grounds of
its design nor of its technique,” he says, “do I find myself able to
accept it as a work of Holbein,” and he proceeds to draw attention to
“the angular and uncouth projection of the forward leg in the figure of
our Lord, an exaggeration which is repeated with even more unnatural
emphasis in the distant figure of St. Peter as he walks and gesticulates
at the side of St. John. The action, moreover, of the hands of the chief
figure, intended to be expressive of the “Noli Me Tangere,” is somewhat
exaggerated and theatrical.”[218] He calls attention to other details
which he thinks prove that the work cannot be from Holbein’s brush. The
type of the head, however, and the action of the hands, as well as the
position of the feet, very closely resemble more than one of Holbein’s
small figures in his designs for woodcuts, more particularly the Christ
in one of the little pictures on the frontispiece to Coverdale’s Bible,
in which the action is almost identical, while other instances could be
given. The picture has suffered in the course of time, and, like the
Basel altar-piece, has not escaped repainting in parts, but remains
nevertheless an undoubted example of Holbein’s sacred art at, or shortly
after, the period when he had just settled down in Basel as a member of
the Guild “zum Himmel.” Modern German criticism is agreed as to its
authorship. Dr. Ganz places it at the end of Holbein’s first visit to
England.
[Sidenote: “NOLI ME TANGERE” AT HAMPTON COURT]
This picture has been in the royal collections of England since the
reign of Henry VIII, and in the inventory of his pictures at Whitehall,
taken at his death in 1547, it was entered as “Item, a table with the
picture of our Lord appearing to Mary Magdalen” (No. 33), while it
occurs again in that of James II (No. 520), “Our Saviour appearing to
Mary Magdalen in the garden.” That in those early days the picture was
regarded as a work of Holbein’s is proved by an entry in Evelyn’s
_Diary_, under the date September 2, 1680, describing several days spent
by him in the examination of the contents of the library and private
rooms at Whitehall during the absence of Charles II at Windsor. He says:
“In the rest of the private lodgings contiguous to this (_i.e._ the
library), are divers of the best pictures of the great masters, Raphael,
Titian, &c., and, in my esteeme, above all, the _Noli me tangere of our
blessed Saviour to Mary Magdalen after his Resurrection_, of Hans
Holbein, then which I never saw so much reverence and kind of heavenly
astonishment express’d in a picture.” Nothing is known of its earlier
history, or how it came to England, but it is not unnatural to suppose
that it was brought over by Holbein himself, as an easily portable
example of his powers as a painter of sacred subjects. It is doubly
valuable as being the only work by him of this particular class now
remaining in this country. On the other hand, it is quite possible that
it was painted in England in 1527 for one of his new patrons. Mr. Ernest
Law points out that there is a rendering of this same subject by Lambert
Sustris, a German painter, and pupil of Christopher Schwartz of Munich,
who flourished about the end of the sixteenth century. This last-named
work, both in the figure of Christ, and in several other points, bears a
close resemblance to the Hampton Court picture, to which, indeed, it may
have owed its inspiration.[219]
Holbein’s rapidly-maturing mastery of technique and power in expressing
the most poignant emotion, as well as his complete understanding of the
architecture of the Renaissance and skill in making brilliant use of it
as a setting for his figures, is shown in two panels in the Basel
Gallery, which at one time evidently formed a small diptych such as
would be used in some household chapel. They represent “Christ as the
Man of Sorrows” and “Mary as Mater Dolorosa” (No. 317) (Pl. 33),[220]
and are carried out in a brown monochrome, with the exception of the sky
seen through the arches, which is a bright blue, the two contrasted
tones producing a very harmonious colour effect. In each panel the
background consists of an elaborate arrangement of pillars, arches, and
vaulting, richly carved and decorated with panels, friezes, and
medallions of ornament, which recall the very similar fantastic details
of Renaissance architecture in the left wing of the Freiburg
altar-piece, and more than one of his designs for painted glass of this
period.[221] In the “Mater Dolorosa” one of the friezes represents a
band of small naked putti, which, according to Dr. Kœgler, is based upon
a similar frieze in the cathedral of Como,[222] while other figure
subjects are contained in the medallions; in the “Man of Sorrows” the
decoration is entirely of floriated ornament. The general effect
produced is one of great richness, almost superabundance, of
ornamentation, and lavishness of architectural detail. In spite of this,
the two figures are not overwhelmed by it, but at once arrest the
attention. Christ is seated on the steps between two pillars, nude, with
the exception of a loin-cloth, crowned with thorns, his head sinking in
agony on his left shoulder. Mary, a veil over her head, and the folds of
her robes falling in straight parallel lines, kneels with open,
outstretched hands, and gazes with grief-stricken countenance at the
Saviour’s sufferings. Very reverent feeling is shown in the conception
of each figure. The nude form of Christ indicates a very accurate study
of the human body, while the expression of pain and intense sorrow has
been admirably seized. The solitude of this grief-stricken figure is
intensified by the grandeur and richness of the building in which he is
seated, deserted by all men. An equally fine conception of deep though
restrained sorrow is shown in the face of the Virgin, and in the
beautiful, expressive hands. A peculiarity of this diptych is that the
horizon is placed below the level of the picture, although it is so
small that it can never have been intended for hanging at a considerable
height, such as the arrangement of the horizon-line would suggest. It
may be, therefore, that it is the preliminary study for some larger
wall-painting, finished with unusual care, or a reduced copy made by
Holbein from some altar-piece of his which has now disappeared, probably
during the disturbances of 1529. It forms part of the Amerbach
Collection, and is described in the catalogue as: “Item zwei H. Holbeins
mit olfarb gmalte täfelin darin Christus vnd Maria in eim ghüs, mit
steinfarb.”
VOL. I., PLATE 33.
[Illustration:
CHRIST, THE MAN OF SORROWS
Diptych, painted in brown monochrome, with blue sky
BASEL GALLERY
]
[Illustration:
MARY, MATER DOLOROSA
Diptych, painted in brown monochrome, with blue sky
BASEL GALLERY
]
[Sidenote: DRAWING OF THE “HOLY FAMILY”]
There is a drawing in the Basel Gallery representing the “Holy Family”
(Pl. 34),[223] which is remarkable for the rich setting of Renaissance
architecture in which Holbein has placed his figures. The arrangement is
so elaborate that the latter at first appear to be of only secondary
importance. On the topmost of a flight of steps the Infant Christ is
learning to walk, his hands held by his mother and Anna, who are seated
on either side of him. On the left the aged Joachim, whose pronounced
features recall more than one head in the earlier “Passion” series, is
looking on from behind a pillar, while Joseph stands with his arm round
another pillar on the opposite side. Behind the group is a semicircular
niche, the upper part scalloped like a shell, supported by columns and
outstanding pillars, the latter with a sculptured frieze of putti round
the base. The capitals of the columns and the frieze which they support
are decorated with foliated designs in which figures are mingled. A
lunette in the arch which crowns the niche is ornamented in a similar
way, and contains a tablet with the signature “Hans Hol.” Over a
projecting cornice is a sculptured figure of Samson slaying the lion.
The architectural motive throughout is strongly Italian, and, indeed, in
parts bears a striking resemblance to the Porta della Rana of the
cathedral of Como,[224] while the whole drawing furnishes still further
strong evidence that Holbein must have crossed the Alps, and that
designs such as this were not mere efforts of his imagination. It is a
pen drawing on a brown-red ground, washed with grey-black and heightened
with white in the parts where the light falls, and its date is about
1520 or 1521. It is a study for a picture, or, more probably, for a
wall-painting, to be placed at some height, as the horizon-line is well
below the level of the ground. The strongly-marked perspective of the
background, too, which slants rapidly towards the right, suggests such a
purpose, and that it was to form the left wing of some considerable
scheme of wall decoration, with a more important central subject, and a
corresponding right wing. A smaller drawing, also at Basel, of the same
date and style, a pen and wash drawing, heightened with white on a grey
ground, represents the Virgin, seated on a similar high step between two
pillars, suckling the Child.[225] With the exception of the two columns,
one of which is unfinished, the background is left blank, but in the
painting for which it was a study it is natural to suppose that the
architectural setting would have been as elaborate as in the “Holy
Family,” which it resembles in its low horizon-line.
VOL. I., PLATE 34.
[Illustration:
THE HOLY FAMILY
_Washed drawing on a red ground_
BASEL GALLERY
]
There is a third drawing, in the Städtisches Museum, Leipzig, which
belongs to the same period as the two just described, and has many
points in common with them.[226] It is a pen drawing heightened with
white on a dark grey ground, and represents the Madonna seated on a
stone bench over which her cloak is spread, supporting the Infant Christ
in his first attempts to walk. The Child, with one arm and leg uplifted,
is laughing with delight, and the attitude of the Virgin, with head bent
down, and her long hair blown on one side as though by a breeze, is one
of great beauty. In this arrangement of the hair, though more free, and
in the type of the Madonna’s face, though more beautiful, this drawing
bears a close resemblance to the more elaborate of the two in the
Amerbach Collection. It is signed and dated “H. H.” and “1519” on two
panels on either side of the carpet or pavement beneath the Virgin’s
feet, and was possibly made shortly after Holbein’s return from Lucerne
to Basel. It is a most sympathetic and natural study of maternal love
and the happiness of childhood, and has a grace and charm which the two
other drawings, made at about the same date, do not possess in the same
degree.[227]
[Sidenote: THE “DEAD CHRIST IN THE TOMB”]
After the early “Cross-Bearing” panel of 1515 at Karlsruhe, there is no
dated picture among this group of sacred paintings until the “Dead
Christ in the Tomb,” in the Basel Gallery (No. 318), of the year 1521,
is reached (Pl. 35).[228] This remarkable work, which forms part of the
Amerbach Collection, is a life-size study of a dead man, and one whose
end has, perhaps, been brought about by violence. Holbein has painted
the corpse upon a long, low panel, and has represented it as lying
enclosed within the narrow confines of a tomb of plain marble of a
greenish hue, the side facing the spectator being removed in order to
permit a view of the interior. The body, which almost fills the narrow
space, rests on its back on a plain white cloth, over which the long
dark hair falls. The head is seen almost in profile, but very slightly
turned towards the front, the short brown beard pointing directly
upwards. The light comes from some small aperture low down at the foot
of the tomb, and falls on the soles of the feet, and illuminates the
lower side of each prominent feature of the body, such as the under
parts of the chin, the white swollen lips of the open mouth, the nose,
and the eyebrows, leaving other portions in shadow, and thus
intensifying the feeling of horror which the picture at first produces.
It shows that Holbein, at the age of twenty-four, had attained a
complete mastery of technical expression, for it is painful in the
completeness of its realism. The rigidity of the limbs, the haggard
cheeks with strongly-projecting bones, the staring, half-sunken eyes,
the lifeless skin, the colourless face with bloodless lips, the
emaciated body with its ribs standing out, have all been set down with
relentless accuracy. The indication of decay in the hands and feet, and
in the flesh turning green round the wounds in the side, helps to
intensify the terror and horror of death which the picture is intended
to depict. It was evidently painted from some dead body, how obtained it
is impossible to say, but, according to an old tradition, his model was
the corpse of a man just taken out of the Rhine by the Rhine Bridge.
Holbein’s object in painting it was undoubtedly to give as complete a
rendering as possible of the physical aspects of death as seen in a body
approaching decay. It is hardly to be believed that it was his original
intention to paint a picture of the “Dead Christ,” and that for the
purpose he made search in Basel for a corpse to serve as his model. It
is much more natural to suppose that, having painted this vividly
realistic study, which no patron was likely to purchase, he made it of
marketable value by adding the wounds and the title, and so turning it
into a “Christ in the Tomb.” This is borne out by Basilius Amerbach’s
entry in his inventory. He calls it “A picture of a dead man, with the
title Jesus of Nazareth” (“Ein todten bild H. Holbeins vf holtz mit
ölfarben cum titulo Iesus Nazarenus rex”). This Latin title, in large
gold Roman letters, runs across a long strip at the top of the picture,
a part of the old frame, and between each word is placed a small angel
bearing the instruments of Christ’s torture. It is from this
superscription, and from the stigmata, that the work receives its only
sacred significance; in all other respects it is a remorseless, almost
revolting, study of some man who has died a violent death, a man with
features of no physical beauty, and in no way resembling Holbein’s
customary type of the Christ. There is nothing of the dignity or the
supernatural beauty which so often irradiate the inanimate countenance
shortly after life has passed away; but, regarded as a work of art, the
picture is in the highest sense one of great beauty by reason of the
mastery of its technical achievement, the knowledge it displays of the
human body, its absolute truth to nature, and the harmony of its
colouring. The contrast of the warm olive green of the sarcophagus with
the pale grey tones of the flesh produces an admirable effect. On a
darker slab at the feet is the inscription “MDXXI. H.H.” A further touch
of realism is shown in the large crack in the marble at the back of this
slab.
Possibly this picture found a place in one of the Basel churches; it has
been suggested by Woltmann[229] that it once formed the predella to some
altar-piece representing Christ’s Passion, and this, no doubt, is
correct, though for the reasons given above it does not seem likely that
the artist originally painted it for that purpose.
VOL. I., PLATE 35.
[Illustration:
THE DEAD CHRIST IN THE TOMB
Predella of an Altar-piece
1521
BASEL GALLERY
]
[Sidenote: THE “SOLOTHURN MADONNA”]
This “Dead Christ” remains an isolated example among the many varied
sides of Holbein’s art. In the following year, in the “Solothurn
Madonna” (Pl. 36)[230] he combines truth in the delineation of the human
figure with physical and spiritual beauty, and reaches great dignity and
nobility in his conception of character. This picture, with the
exception of the “Meyer Madonna,” is the most important and beautiful
altar-panel from Holbein’s brush that has survived, though by no means
in its original condition.
The composition consists of only four figures. The Virgin is seated in
the centre, upon a small platform covered with a carpet, holding the
Infant Christ on her lap, and, standing on either side, are St.
Nicholas,[231] and St. Ursus, the patron saint of Solothurn. The Virgin
is clad in a light-red robe, and over it a bright-blue sleeveless
mantle, fastened round the neck with a cord, which hangs in somewhat
straight and simple folds and spreads over the carpet at her feet, an
ample garment wide enough to cover all who seek her protection. Her
golden hair falls upon both shoulders, the upper part of the head being
covered with a veil of thin, transparent gauze, surmounted by a golden
crown of very decorative design studded with precious stones. She holds
the nude Child upon her knees, her right hand grasping one chubby little
leg, while the other is placed under his left arm. The head is perhaps
the most attractive and sympathetic of all Holbein’s representations of
the Madonna. There is a sweetness, modesty, and purity in its
expression, and a quiet dignity which personify in the happiest manner
the beauty of divine motherhood, and betray stronger evidences than had
hitherto appeared in his work of the marked effect of his study of the
paintings of contemporary Italian artists. The face is round and full,
and of the German type, and in its features by no means one of ideal
loveliness, but the happy and tender smile which hovers on the lips, and
the deep maternal love which shines in the eyes, give to it a very real
and arresting beauty of its own. The plump, round-headed Child is a
delightful study from real life. The foreshortening of the little feet,
with their crinkled-up toes and the delicately-traced folds in the skin,
is admirable, and the small fat hands, one of which is turned away from
the body with the palm upwards, a characteristic attitude with small
children, are full of expression. The right hand is held as though in
the act of benediction.
St. Ursus, the patron saint of the church, and one of the martyrs of the
Theban Legion, stands on the spectator’s right, a noble and dignified
figure, clad from head to foot in plate armour of a fashion still worn
in Holbein’s day. His helmet is decorated with ostrich feathers, and one
gauntleted hand grasps the hilt of his great sword, while with the other
he holds the banner of the Legion, a large red flag with a white cross,
which reaches almost to the top of the picture. He appears a true
soldier of the Church, with his dignified and martial bearing, his keen
eye and determined mouth, half hidden by the dark moustache, each hair
of which has been carefully drawn in the manner which Holbein practised
in portraiture throughout his life. The colours of the flag are
reflected in the highly-polished surface of his armour. On the opposite
side stands St. Nicholas, the patron saint of the poor. He is dressed in
ecclesiastical vestments of great splendour, which have evidently been
copied by the painter from some existing example, dating from an earlier
period than that of the painting. Over his violet chasuble are rich
embroideries in gold and colours, with representations of the Centurion
of Capernaum before Christ, the Saviour before Caiaphas, and the
Crowning with Thorns. The red mitre is embroidered with gold and pearls,
and, as recently pointed out by Dr. Ganz,[232] the figure of St.
Nicholas himself, with his attributes, a book and three golden balls. In
his left hand he holds his pastoral staff, and with the other drops alms
into a bowl held up by a kneeling beggar at his feet. The beardless face
is refined and delicate, and its spiritual character is in marked
contrast to the vigorous and manly expression of the knightly saint who
stands facing him. Only the uplifted face of the beggar, and the one
hand which holds the alms-bowl, are shown. He appears as one of the
attributes of the saint, and the artist has only indicated enough of his
form to make this clear; otherwise he is almost entirely concealed
behind the Virgin’s voluminous mantle. There is nothing here of the
painful realism of poverty and disease such as is shown in the kneeling
figures in the “St. Elizabeth of Hungary” wing of the “St. Sebastian”
altar-piece of the elder Holbein at Munich, or in the son’s earlier
Passion pictures in Basel.
VOL. I., PLATE 36.
[Illustration:
THE VIRGIN AND CHILD, WITH ST. URSUS AND A HOLY BISHOP
1522
SOLOTHURN GALLERY
]
[Sidenote: THE “SOLOTHURN MADONNA”]
Holbein’s art had reached a point in its development when such realistic
methods of bringing home to the spectator the lessons his pictures were
intended to convey were discarded.
A peculiarity of the picture is the exceedingly simple setting in which
the figures are placed; whereas Holbein’s usual practice at this period
of his life was to make an almost lavish use of architectural
ornamentation in his backgrounds. In the “Solothurn Madonna” it consists
of a perfectly plain round archway of stone, quite free from sculptured
decoration, across which two thick iron bars are placed, fixed into the
stonework as though to strengthen it, with upright cross bars running to
the crown of the arch. It has been suggested that the vaulting of the
church for which the picture was intended was supported and strengthened
in the same way, and that Holbein introduced it into his altar-piece in
order that it might be in perfect harmony with its surroundings; but the
motive appears in more than one of the backgrounds to Ferrari’s
pictures, such as the “Flagellation,” one of the great series of
frescoes in the church of S. M. delle Grazie, at Varallo,[233] finished
in 1513. Through this open archway a pale-blue sky is seen, against
which the Virgin’s crown stands out. The light increases in brightness
as it nears the Madonna’s head, thus forming a natural halo. This
simplicity of treatment is also to be observed in other details. The
Virgin is not seated upon an elaborate throne, but on some low seat or
stool which cannot be seen. The carpet at her feet, covering the stone
step, is green, with a geometrical diamond pattern in white and red, and
two shields inset containing the arms of the donor and his wife,[234]
which are partly hidden and protected by the Virgin’s cloak. Below St.
Ursus the monogram “H. H.” and the date “1522” are painted as though cut
in the stone step.
The Virgin and the Infant Christ in this picture appear to be idealised
portraits of Holbein’s wife and first-born child. All available evidence
indicates either 1520 or 1521 as the date of his marriage, shortly
before or after he became a citizen of Basel, so that his own child may
well have served him as his model. Hans Bock the elder, the artist who
was employed by the Basel Council to renovate Holbein’s wall-paintings
in the Town Hall, made a free copy of the figure of the Child in this
picture when he was in Solothurn in 1604 or the following year, and
depicted him with a serpent as the conqueror of sin.[235] This copy, now
in the Basel Gallery (No. 91), belonged to Amerbach, and was entered in
the catalogue as “A naked child sitting on a serpent, a copy of a
painting by Holbein, exactly copied in the greater part by H. Bock on
wood in oil colours.”[236] Woltmann describes a drawing of the same
child’s head, almost in profile, with the mother’s hand supporting it
under the left shoulder, as in the picture, in the Weigel Collection,
Leipzig, a silver-point drawing, signed and dated, “Hans Holbein,
1522.”[237] It has the same large, rather round head, short neck, and
high forehead, as in the painting, and it was probably a preliminary
sketch for it.[238]
VOL. I., PLATE 37.
[Illustration:
PORTRAIT OF A YOUNG WOMAN, POSSIBLY HOLBEIN’S WIFE
ROYAL PICTURE GALLERY, MAURITSHUIS, THE HAGUE
]
[Sidenote: HOLBEIN’S PORTRAIT OF HIS WIFE]
In the head of the Madonna, although Holbein has idealised and
spiritualised his model, can be traced the predominant features of his
wife as shown in the portrait he painted of her with their two children
some seven years later, after his return from England to Basel in 1528,
though the face in the latter painting has become coarsened and bears
the marks of care and even sorrow, and has little in common with the
beautiful Solothurn head. The latter more closely resembles the very
fine portrait of a young woman in the Hague Gallery (No. 275) (Pl.
37),[239] which is now regarded by some critics as a likeness of
Holbein’s wife, painted just before or immediately after he married her,
in the earliest part of his second Basel period. This picture is one of
the strayed waifs from the royal collections of England, for it is
branded on the back with the crown and “C.R.,” which denote that it was
once in the possession of Charles I, in whose catalogue it was
attributed to Leonardo da Vinci. It appears afterwards to have been in
the Arundel Collection, and is most probably the portrait described in
the 1655 inventory as “ritratto della Moglie de Holbein,” which, after
the death of the Countess of Arundel, must have been sold in Amsterdam,
and purchased by some Dutch collector. It fetched 65 florins at the Joan
de Vries sale in 1738, and was afterwards in the G. van Slingelandt and
the William V of Orange collections. It is evidently not one of the
pictures taken over to Holland by William III during one of his visits
to the Hague, as has been suggested, for there is nothing to show that
it ever returned to the English royal collections, nor is it included in
the list of works unsuccessfully reclaimed by Queen Anne from the Dutch
States when she ascended the throne. Holbein’s authorship of this work
has been frequently disputed, some writers regarding it as a good old
copy after a lost original by the master, while others look upon it as a
fine original work by some Netherlandish contemporary of Holbein’s who
was strongly under his influence. Dr. Woltmann considered it to be most
probably by Holbein himself, and others have followed him in this
opinion. Dr. Ganz, in his recent book, includes it among the genuine
works of the second Basel period, and points out that the soft, tender
colour-scheme in which it has been carried out was the result of
Holbein’s recent visit to Italy, and explains its earlier attribution to
Leonardo.[240] When allowance is made for the passage of time, and the
troubles and cares which are supposed to have embittered Elsbeth
Holbein’s life, there is considerable likeness between this portrait of
a comely young _haus-frau_ and the wife in the portrait of 1528-9. This
is particularly to be noticed in the heavy-lidded, slightly-protruding
eyes, much more pronounced in the later picture, while the general shape
of the head and form of the features are alike in both. The likeness,
however, is not so striking as to make it absolutely certain that in the
Hague picture we have a portrait of Holbein’s bride. The work is without
inscription. She is represented seated, with her crossed hands resting
upon her white apron. Her hair is completely covered by a white gauze
veil which is carried under the chin, and her gown, edged and lined with
fur, is open at the front, showing the plain white, high-necked bodice
below. Whether by Holbein or not—and it is difficult to see who else
could have painted it—this picture has great charm. A recent writer[241]
speaks of this picture as leaving a vivid and permanent impression on
the spectator, by reason of the luminous freshness of its colour, the
delicate perfume of its purity, and the exquisite, limpid sweetness
which exhales from it as from a white rose under a blue sky in
spring-time.
In the Louvre there is a silver-point drawing, touched with Indian
ink and red crayon, of the head and shoulders of a young woman (Pl.
38),[242] which bears considerable likeness both to the Solothurn
Madonna and to the portrait of 1528-9. She is represented almost
full face, with eyes cast down, and her straight hair falling in two
large plaits down her back. She wears a necklace with a pendant
circular medallion with the Cross of St. Anthony, and across the
border of her bodice, which is cut low and straight, runs the device
“ALS.IN.ERN.ALS.IN ...” (“In All Honour”).[243] The same
heavily-lidded eyes, prominent nose, well-chiselled mouth with its
full lips, double chin, and slope of the shoulders, occur both in
this drawing and in the Solothurn altar-piece, and are even more
strongly marked in the later portrait-group, though in this earlier
study the features as yet bear few traces of the trials and
experiences of life, but still retain much of their youthful bloom
and freshness, and gain a certain beauty from the happy smile which
lights them up.
VOL. I., PLATE 38.
[Illustration:
HEAD OF A YOUNG WOMAN
(Probably Holbein’s wife)
Study for the Solothurn “Madonna”
_Silver-point drawing, touched with red_
LOUVRE, PARIS
]
[Sidenote: THE “SOLOTHURN MADONNA”]
All writers, however, are not agreed in seeing in the Louvre drawing and
in the Solothurn Madonna an idealised portrait of Holbein’s wife. Those
who hold the contrary view regard it as almost impossible that so great
a change as that to be noted between the fair and youthful face of the
Madonna and that of the sad and careworn, elderly wife of the family
group could have taken place in the space of seven years. Mr. Gerald
Davies, who fails to see the likeness, regards the Louvre drawing as the
work, not of Holbein, but of his father, in which case it cannot be a
portrait of Holbein’s wife,[244] unless the elder painter spent some
time in Basel with his two sons, towards the end of his life, as stated
by earlier writers, of which there is no documentary record. It is,
however, impossible to agree with this writer in his ascription of this
drawing to Hans Holbein the Elder. Mrs. Fortescue, in her recent book on
the painter, weaves a romance around the Louvre drawing which has
nothing to support it but imagination. Her theory is that Holbein became
enamoured of his future wife shortly after his arrival in Basel, and
that he then made this drawing, the fashion of the hair showing that she
was still unmarried. The course of true love, however, did not run
smoothly, and the consequent disappointment was the real reason of his
“otherwise inexplicable” departure for Lucerne in 1517. During his two
years’ absence Elsbeth married the tanner Schmid, who not long
afterwards died, leaving her free to become the painter’s wife when he
renewed his suit shortly after his return to Basel. This is a pretty
little story, but there is not the slightest evidence to be found in
support of it.[245] On the other hand, Woltmann and Dr. Ganz are no
doubt correct in regarding the Louvre drawing as the actual first study
for the Solothurn Madonna.
[Sidenote: ST. URSULA AND ST. GEORGE]
The picture was commissioned by Hans Gerster, town archivist of Basel,
who was not a native of that city, but whose wife, Barbara Guldenknopf,
was a member of a local family. Among Gerster’s official duties was that
of conducting negotiations with the councils of neighbouring towns, and,
after Basel had entered the Swiss confederation in 1501, one of the
places to which his official duties frequently took him was Solothurn.
There he became a close friend of the Coadjutor Nikolaus von Diesbach,
dean of Solothurn Minster, whom he made his spiritual adviser.
Circumstances seem to indicate that in 1522 Gerster was under some
suspicion as to illegal dealings in the Imperial interests, which
eventually brought about his dismissal from office, at about the same
time as the fall of that other early patron of Holbein, Jakob Meyer, who
lost his seat in the Council through similar causes. It has been
suggested, therefore, that the picture was ordered for the Solothurn
Minster on the advice of the Coadjutor, in expiation of Gerster’s
irregular conduct. For the same reason, according to those who hold that
the saintly figure on the left represents the Bishop of Tours, St.
Martin was chosen as the particular saint to whom all sinners made
appeal, and was introduced as intercessor for the donor, while the
kneeling beggar may even be a portrait of the archivist himself. The
chasuble the saint wears is the one specially prescribed for this
office, while the figure of St. Nicholas on the mitre may have been
placed there in order to associate the donor’s friend, Nikolaus von
Diesbach, with the intercession. It is possible that the picture was a
commission for the St. Nicholas Chapel of the Minster, founded in 1520,
for the presence of St. Ursus, Solothurn’s patron saint, proves that it
was intended for that place.[246] As the years went by, it suffered from
neglect, and the name of the master who had painted it was forgotten, so
that when, in 1648, this chapel was pulled down and rebuilt, the picture
was regarded as of not sufficient value or beauty to be rehung over its
altar. Between 1689 and 1717 it came into the possession of a certain
Canon Hartmann, the Minster choirmaster, who in 1683 built and endowed
the little chapel of All Saints on the heights above Grenchen, to which
he presented or bequeathed the picture. Here, again, it does not appear
to have been regarded as a work of any particular importance, and the
process of neglect and deterioration continued; and when, in 1864, it
was rediscovered by Herr Franz Anton Zetter of Solothurn, in the same
small church, it was hanging high up on the wall of the choir, blackened
with the smoke of more than two hundred years, its panels worm-eaten,
without a frame, and suspended by a cord through two holes which had
been bored into the picture itself. Although it was impossible to
examine it closely, Herr Zetter was struck with its beauty, still to be
discerned through all the discoloration and damage, and when, shortly
afterwards, he heard that the chapel was being renovated, he made
anxious inquiries as to its fate. For some time all search for it proved
unavailing, but in the end it was found, face downward, and splashed all
over with whitewash, under the boards which formed the workmen’s
platform. He was only just in time to save it from final destruction.
Upon examination he discovered the signature, and feeling convinced, in
spite of scepticism on the part of others whom he consulted, that it was
a genuine work of the master’s, he purchased it. It was placed in the
hands of Eigner, the keeper of the Augsburg Gallery, for restoration,
the work occupying three years. The state of the picture was so bad that
restoration was essential, and this, on the whole, was well done, though
it suffered to some extent during the process. There is, however, a
seventeenth-century copy of the picture in existence, which shows that
the restorer substituted yellow for red in the Virgin’s right sleeve,
which does not harmonise with Holbein’s original colour-scheme. Herr
Zetter presented the picture to the Gallery of his native town, where it
now occupies the place of honour, so that, thanks to his acumen and
enthusiasm, one of Holbein’s finest achievements in sacred painting has
been saved from oblivion.[247]
In composition the Solothurn Madonna bears close resemblance to a large
woodcut, designed by Holbein, on the back of the title-page of the
Statute Book or Town Laws of Freiburg-im-Breisgau.[248] This book, _The
Municipal Laws and Statutes of the Praiseworthy Town of Freiburg_, by
Ulrich Zasius, was published in Basel by Adam Petri in 1520. The Virgin
is seated enthroned in front of a niche of Renaissance design. In her
attitude, and the way in which she holds the Child on her knees, as well
as in her dress and her long hair falling on her shoulders, there is
considerable likeness to the altar-piece, as also in the two figures of
the patron saints of Freiburg who stand on either side of her, St.
George, with one hand resting on his shield and a flag held aloft in the
other, and clad, like St. Ursus, in complete armour, and Bishop Lambert,
in rich ecclesiastical dress, and holding the crozier, as St. Nicholas
does in the Solothurn picture. The similarity between the two designs is
particularly close in the position and movement of the arms and hands of
the Infant Christ. The woodcut, which is signed “H. H.” on the edge of
the step on the left, and dated 1519, is richly and grandly designed,
the figures of the two saints having been conceived with great nobility,
and it is possible that Holbein was so satisfied with its composition
that he made use of it two years later when Gerster came to him for an
altar-piece.[249]
Only one other picture bears Holbein’s signature and the date 1522. This
is the full-length representation of “St. Ursula,”[250] which with its
companion, “St. George,” is in the Karlsruhe Gallery. They evidently
formed the wings of an altar-piece, the central panel of which is
missing. St. Ursula, who carries a number of long arrows in her arms,
symbols of her martyrdom, is clad in the fashion of the rich citizen’s
wife of Holbein’s day, as seen in the set of his costume studies in the
Basel Gallery, and wears a golden crown and a nimbus with a band of
Renaissance ornamentation. Behind her, the branches of a fig-tree stand
out against the blue sky, and low down on the horizon is a landscape
with a tower. Her necklace, with an openwork medallion containing the
cross of St. Anthony, closely resembles the one in the Louvre sketch of
Holbein’s wife as a young woman. In the companion panel, St.
George,[251] with his flag grasped in his left hand, stands over the
prostrate dragon, which he has transfixed with his spear. Here again the
background consists chiefly of blue sky with a distant hilly landscape.
The types of the two heads are not unlike the “Adam and Eve” study of
1517, while the St. Ursula also recalls the Solothurn Madonna, though
the face is less idealised. It is possible that his wife also sat for
this picture. The costume of St. George, who is crowned with a nimbus
containing his name, is very similar to that of the Archangel Michael in
the beautiful study in the Basel Gallery already described.[252] The
“St. Ursula” is signed and dated “HANS HOLBEIN MDXXII.”
[Sidenote: ORGAN-CASE DOORS IN BASEL MINSTER]
These two panels have been renovated and retouched, and, in consequence,
much of Holbein’s original brushwork has vanished. For this reason they
have been regarded by some writers as merely works of the Holbein
school. They are accepted as genuine, however, by such modern critics as
Dr. Ganz and Herr Knackfuss, while Woltmann,[253] who speaks of the face
and bust of St. Ursula as delicately finished in Holbein’s happiest
manner, though the lower part of her figure and that of St. George are
so inferior as to suggest a less skilful hand, conjectured that they
were probably designed, and in part painted, by the master himself, and
executed under his direction, but without very careful supervision. It
has also been suggested that they were the result of a poorly-paid
commission for some village church, and that Holbein, in consequence,
did not take much trouble over them; but such a supposition has little
probability, for Holbein was never satisfied with inferior work, but
always gave of his best, both in great things and small. Mr. Gerald
Davies refuses to accept “these weak and slightly affected figures” as
possible work of the painter who in the same year produced so great a
picture as the Solothurn Madonna.[254] There can be little doubt
however, that, though damaged, they are from the hand of the master
himself.
The two large paintings in monochrome on canvas, for the decoration of
the inner sides of the doors of the case which covered in the organ in
the Minster of Basel when it was not in use, must not be omitted in any
consideration of Holbein’s work for church decoration.[255] They
survived the iconoclastic outbreak of 1529; possibly the mob did not
regard them as religious paintings, or they may have escaped owing to
their position high up on the wall of the nave, and so not easily
reached. Merian mentions them in his _Topographia Helvetiæ_, published
in 1622,[256] and in 1775 Emanuel Büchel made a water-colour drawing of
them in their original position,[257] for his collection of the
monuments, sculptures, and paintings in Basel Minster, from which
drawing it is to be seen that they decorated the upper part of the
organ. The organ-case was of wood, richly carved in the style of the
early Renaissance, and Holbein’s decorations were painted in brown
monochrome in order to produce the effect of similar carving, as though
they formed an integral part of the case itself. The organ was restored
in 1639, when the doors were repainted by Sixt Ringle, and in 1786 it
was replaced by a new one, Holbein’s decorations and some of the old
carved woodwork being deposited in the Public Library. The doors
suffered a second “restoration” in 1842, and in the following year were
removed to the Basel Picture Gallery (No. 321).[258] Quite recently much
of the over-painting has been removed, and it is possible to obtain a
good idea of the noble and decorative effect they must have produced
when fresh from Holbein’s brush and in the position intended for them.
In spite of this careful renovation, however, the damage done to them in
earlier days was so severe that much of their original beauty has
vanished. The figures are larger than life-size, and produce the effect
of carved wood statues. Happily, the original study for them, a very
beautiful and powerful pen-drawing washed with brown-black Indian ink,
is to be found among the drawings in the Amerbach Collection (Pl.
39).[259] The design is on six vertical strips of paper fastened
together. The peculiar shape of the doors necessitated considerable
ingenuity on the part of the artist in the arrangement of his material,
and he succeeded admirably in adapting the spaces to his purpose. Each
door is in three divisions, the innermost being the highest. In the
left-hand shutter this inmost space contains the figure of the Emperor
Henry II, founder of Basel Minster. In the shorter, outer division
stands his wife, Kunigunde, and between them is a representation of the
Minster itself. On the right-hand wing the Virgin and Child stand facing
the Emperor, and in the outer division, St. Pantalus, the first Bishop
of Basel; between them is a group of small nude singing and playing
angels. The spaces above the heads of the Emperor and the Virgin, and
the other spaces, triangular in shape, over the central part of each
wing, are filled in with Renaissance ornamentation. The four large
figures are designed with great nobility, and are very impressive in
effect. The horizon lies below the level of the ground, on account of
the height at which the doors were to be hung, a frequent practice of
Holbein’s in his wall-paintings, and an observance of the laws of vision
probably brought home to him by his study of Mantegna’s works. For this
reason the figures are represented as seen from below in effective
perspective foreshortening.
VOL. I., PLATE 39.
[Illustration:
DESIGN FOR THE ORGAN DOORS, BASEL CATHEDRAL
_Pen and wash drawing_
BASEL GALLERY
]
The Emperor, with long beard, is shown in profile, crowned, and wearing
a royal mantle, a sceptre in his left hand. His Empress, also crowned,
carries a large cross in her hands, and stands in the curious Basel
manner of those days, with the body thrust forward, and the back bent,
as in Holbein’s costume studies referred to in a later chapter.[260] The
figure of the Virgin is nobly conceived. The Child flings his little
arms round her neck, and presses his cheek against hers, while she
clasps him closely to her breast with both hands. In carrying out the
design, Holbein made one or two slight changes in the position of the
Child. In the finished painting the right arm is not flung round the
Virgin’s neck, but, instead, the hand rests in the bend of her elbow,
while their cheeks no longer touch. St. Pantalus, in full ecclesiastical
robes and mitre, holds his crozier in his left hand and stretches out
the right, as though speaking. The group of small child-angels, three of
whom blow trumpets, while four others hold a sheet of music from which
they are singing, is a design of the greatest charm, the figures being
excellently grouped, and drawn with the utmost freedom. They are sturdy
little boys, with curly hair and small wings. One of the singers beats
time with a stick, and another does so with his hand. In the finished
picture this sheet of music is inscribed with the words from the “Song
of Solomon”—“Quam pulchra es amica.” The corresponding division of the
left wing, representing the exterior of the Minster, is just as free and
masterly a study, and the Renaissance ornament which is so cleverly
adapted to the remaining spaces is in the finest taste. This decorative
filling is not the same on both doors, and it is possible that the
artist intended the church authorities to select whichever design they
preferred. The one chosen was that on the right-hand door, though the
design on the left-hand one with the figure of a nude child among the
foliage, is the more beautiful of the two. The whole composition was
admirably suited for the purpose for which it was intended, and when the
doors were thrown open, and the organ itself was played, the effect
produced must have been a fine one. The dignified conception of the four
great figures was in perfect keeping with the deep and solemn tones of
the organ which they decorated. Neither the doors themselves, nor the
design, are dated, but the beauty of the composition and the brilliant
and assured technique point to a period towards the end of Holbein’s
second sojourn in Basel, about 1525, shortly before his departure for
England, and they are thus of about the same date as the ten designs in
Indian ink made for painted glass, representing scenes from Christ’s
Passion. Among the monumental works of decorative painting undertaken by
him during his second residence in Basel, these designs stand among the
highest. The influences which were brought to bear upon his art during
his sojourn in Italy find in them their fullest and most dignified
expression, happily blended with and modified by those other influences,
springing from his native soil, under which he was trained in his
father’s studio.
------------------------------------------------------------------------