DESIGNS FOR PAINTED GLASS AND OTHER STUDIES
Holbein’s work as a designer for the glass-painters—Eight panels of
saints—The “Prodigal Son”—The “Two Unicorns”—Designs with landsknechte
at Berne, Basel, Berlin, and Paris—Heraldic drawings for Erasmus and
others—Designs showing the influence of North German art—“Virgin and
St. John”—The “Annunciation”—“St. Elizabeth”—“Virgin and Child with
kneeling donor”—The great “Passion” series—Studies of costumes of
Basel ladies—“St. Adrian”—Studies from the nude—“A Fight”—Animals.
IN addition to his commissions, both public and private, for
wall-paintings, Holbein was frequently employed in the preparation of
designs for artificers in more than one branch of decorative art. The
Amerbach Collection is rich in works of this class, more particularly in
designs for glass windows. It must be remembered in studying these
“scheibenrisse” that they were intended for painted, and not for
stained, glass. The older method of employing translucent glass of
various tints, in which the colour is incorporated in the body of the
glass itself, so that the window depended for its beauty on its
transparency, had already become, in the Switzerland of Holbein’s day, a
little-practised and, in some districts, an almost forgotten art, its
place being taken by glass, usually white, on which the design was
painted in enamel colours and afterwards permanently fixed by refiring.
Such glass painting produced the effect of a semi-opaque design on a
translucent ground, and, beginning merely with a few brown lines to
indicate the features, or the patterns on a dress, it had gradually
developed, in Germany and Switzerland, into a method of pictorial
representation which imitated as closely as possible a painted picture,
and was, therefore, in marked contrast to the older and more beautiful
art, in which the great aim of the artist was to produce a lovely effect
of transparent colour. In the newer method, which in reality was opposed
to the true nature of the medium employed, but which nevertheless became
a thing of beauty when designed by a master, small panels, as a rule,
were used, which were surrounded by plain white glass, so that they had
the appearance of little pictures set in the middle of a window. The
panels being small ones, and the subjects on them drawn on a small
scale, it was necessary that the panes should be placed near the ground
so that they could be properly seen, and this, again, made it essential
that the draughtsmanship should be as careful and delicate as possible,
design having usurped the place of colour. These glass paintings were
usually surrounded by a framework of a decorative nature which divided
them sharply from the plain glass around them, and helped still more to
produce the effect of a picture. The lines of leadwork, which, in the
older method, held the pieces of vari-coloured glass together, were
abandoned as much as possible, as they naturally marred the delicate
pictorial effect of the work, and were sometimes confined to the
boundary lines of the panel. Under such conditions it was natural that
the glass-workers should turn to artists for their supply of designs,
since accurate draughtsmanship was now all-important.
Holbein, who was largely employed by the Basel glaziers and
glass-painters for this purpose, made the freest and finest use of this
new convention in the decoration of windows. The convention was, no
doubt, a wrong one, and in the end all but extinguished the older and
more beautiful art, but Holbein took it as he found it, and brought to
it all his mastery of design and purity of line, so that the panels he
produced were of great beauty and fine decorative effect. In his day
glass-painting was no longer confined to the services of the Church, but
was introduced into the windows of all private houses of importance,
usually in the form of single panes with the householder’s coat of arms,
or with sacred or profane subjects, according to his tastes. Thus he had
many opportunities of showing his skill in this form of decoration, and
he made use of a great variety of subjects. In some instances, such as
the “Passion” series described below, the treatment is frankly
pictorial, and the decorative effect is confined to the framework of
Renaissance architecture within which the subject is set; but in others,
and more particularly those intended for the display of shields with
armorial bearings, the design becomes largely a decorative one, in which
the artist gives free play to his imagination and taste for
ornamentation in the Italian manner. Whatever the subject, however, each
drawing displays wonderfully free yet delicate draughtsmanship, skilful
arrangement of the design in the space to be filled, and extraordinary
facility of invention. The studies appear often to have been made to the
exact size of the panel they were to decorate, and, as a rule, Holbein
left the question of colour to the taste of the glass-painter; in a few
cases, however, he indicated it by the addition of one or two slight
tints. There can be little doubt that they were carried out largely in
that combination of pale yellow for the higher lights and brown or
grisaille for the darker portions and shadows which was the customary
practice in Switzerland at that period, with touches of more positive
colour here and there in the dresses of the figures, the landscape
backgrounds, and the coats of arms. The designs are in most cases drawn
with the reed pen and washed with Indian ink.
[Sidenote: EIGHT PANELS OF SAINTS]
Only two or three of these designs, of which some thirty or more are in
existence, are dated, and, with the exception of four or five made
during his sojourn in Lucerne,[300] they were all produced between the
years 1519 and 1525 or 1526. Among the earliest are eight panels of
Saints at Basel (Nos. 333-40),[301] which were designed in pairs, and
were to be placed side by side in the two divisions of a single window,
the architectural framework and background in which the figures are set
corresponding in almost all details in each pair of designs, so that it
is evident that they were intended to be seen together, forming between
them a complete picture. They were probably produced for the decoration
of some large hall, or the aisle of a church. Two other drawings
belonging to the same series are contemporary copies after Holbein from
the hand of some follower, one of which bears the date 1520 and the coat
of arms of the town of Basel, proving that the designs were made, most
probably towards the close of 1519, shortly after his return from
Lucerne. They appear to have been done for the cloisters at Wettingen.
The first pair represent the Virgin standing with the Infant Jesus in
her arms,[302] in the left division, and some prince of the Church in
the robes of a bishop in the right.[303] This last figure has been
described as that of St. Pantalus, the patron saint of Basel, but there
is little resemblance in expression to the fine head of that bishop in
Holbein’s design for the organ shutters in the minster. Here the face is
full of arrogance, rather than piety, and the prelate bears himself
proudly as though conscious of his exalted position. His mitre and
ecclesiastical robes are richly embroidered and ornamented. A marked
peculiarity in the drawing of all the figures in this series is their
appearance of stumpiness, the legs being too short for the bodies. A
similar defect is to be noted in some of Holbein’s earlier designs for
book ornaments. In the case of these glass designs it may have been that
they were to be enlarged afterwards by the glass-painter, and placed at
some height from the floor, and that Holbein, therefore, attempted
foreshortening. This, however, is not very probable, as all his designs
for this purpose seem to have been intended for small paintings, to be
placed near the eye, and it is much more likely that this characteristic
of his figures was a fault, also to be noticed in his earlier woodcut
designs, of which he afterwards broke himself. The two in question are
placed in an architectural setting of a somewhat fantastic design, with
large open arches through which an extensive mountainous landscape is
seen. Below the hills, on the right of the bishop, are the houses of a
village and a stone crucifix by the wayside, and on the left a torrent
rushing down a mountain gorge crowned with trees, and forming a large
waterfall under a bridge of one wide arch where the stream joins the
plain. The same landscape is continued in the background of the panel of
the Virgin and Child, the river wandering away through another gorge
among the hills on the left. This view is strongly reminiscent of the
St. Gotthard district and the Devil’s Bridge over the Reuss, and affords
some slight additional proof of Holbein’s expedition across the
Alps.[304]
A second pair represent St. Anna with the Virgin and Child, and St.
Barbara.[305] Here again the unusual shortness of the figures is very
apparent. St. Barbara, who is dressed in the rich costume of a Basel
lady of the sixteenth century, stands in the characteristic attitude,
with the upper part of her body bent backwards, and the heavy dress held
up in front by the hand, as is the case in each one of the series of
studies of ladies’ costumes by Holbein to be described later, which thus
appears to have been the customary habit of walking at that time. The
setting is less fantastic and elaborate than in the two panels just
described, and consists in each of an open arch supported by pillars,
with sculptured figures above the capitals. Although the details of the
ornamentation of the columns do not exactly agree in the two designs,
they are evidently a pair. On the left-hand panel, as in the one on the
same side in the preceding set, there is an empty shield for a coat of
arms, and the background is also a mountainous landscape, though drawn
in less detail. In the design of St. Catherine,[306] which forms one of
a pair with St. John the Baptist, the background is almost entirely
filled with a building with pointed arches supported by short pillars,
but on the left a narrow strip of landscape is visible, with an archway
or bridge across a road with a building on the far side of it, and
distant mountains behind. The face of the saint is a very charming one,
and her hair falls in elaborate ringlets down her back, and is
surmounted with a jewelled crown. In the pair representing St. Andrew
and St. Stephen, Dr. Ganz recognises, in the arcading with flat
pilasters and shallow scallop-crowned niches in front of which the
saints are standing, an architectural motive taken from the cathedral of
Como.[307] There is no need to describe every figure in this series in
detail, each one of which wears a halo, a symbol of which Holbein
afterwards made very little use.
[Sidenote: THE “PRODIGAL SON” WINDOW]
Two other designs for painted glass in the Basel Gallery are of about
the same date as these eight sheets with figures of saints, and were
done in the earlier years of his second Basel period, either in 1519 or
1520. One represents the “Prodigal Son,” and the other is an heraldic
device with two unicorns supporting a shield. The former is a very
effective design, in which the Prodigal Son is shown tending a herd of
swine (Pl. 42 (2)).[308] He strides along, barefooted, in ragged
clothes, through which his bare knees protrude, his long staff on his
shoulder, and his short sword grasped in his left hand. His head is
turned towards the spectator, and there is a look of misery and despair
on his face. The animals he is driving have come to a halt round the
trunk of a large oak tree which fills the greater part of the left-hand
side of the sheet, and is one of the most considerable pieces of
tree-drawing Holbein ever designed. Some of the pigs are devouring the
fallen acorns; others raise their snouts as though expecting the food to
drop from the branches into their mouths. Their keeper, whose miserable
thoughts are far away from his task, unconsciously thrusts the end of
his staff into the eye of one of the herd. The background is a landscape
of wide expanse, with a large walled-in building with farm outhouses on
the bank of a river in the middle distance, and a range of mountains on
the horizon. The whole is surrounded by a simple framework consisting of
a single arch supported by pillars, with two nude sculptured figures in
the angle above the capitals. The rather weak and wavering line of the
flattened arch, and the similar hesitating double spiral which runs
round the pillars, together with the very simple ornamentation of arch,
capitals and bases, indicate that the design is quite an early one,
though the drawing of the figure and the accompanying animals is
excellent and full of character. An empty shield for a coat of arms is
placed in the right-hand corner against the column, and a flat space is
left below for an inscription.
VOL. I., PLATE 42.
[Illustration:
TWO LANDSKNECHTE
Design for painted glass
BASEL GALLERY
]
[Illustration:
THE PRODIGAL SON
Design for painted glass
BASEL GALLERY
]
The sheet with the two unicorns[309] is much more elaborate in its
architectural treatment, and is a design of great decorative effect. The
two beasts stand on their hind-legs, and support with their forelegs an
empty shield of Italian fashion. The animals themselves are
realistically drawn, and are not treated merely as conventional heraldic
beasts, the sense of reality being increased by the head of the one on
the left, which is turned round over its back, so that the horns of both
point in the same direction, but at different angles. They are placed
beneath a very richly-decorated edifice which Holbein appears to have
taken from one of the monumental tombs to be seen in many of the cities
of Northern Italy. The principal feature is a barrel-shaped wooden roof,
supported by a flattened arch and double pillars at the sides and in the
centre. At either side of this roof-like structure rise short chimneys
of Italian design, and above it is a deep frieze with Renaissance
carvings supported by three short pillars. As Dr. Ganz points out,[310]
the design has features in common with the fine tomb of Andrea Fusina,
now in the Archæological Museum in Milan, while the three sculptured
antique heads which crown the lower columns have their counterpart both
in the Certosa of Pavia and the church of S. Maria delle Grazie in
Milan. The whole design, in fact, so closely resembles in its elaborate
architecture these Renaissance monuments, that it is impossible to
believe that it was the result of Holbein’s imagination alone, but
rather was due to personal knowledge and actual study. In the landscape
background is seen a country château with a projecting tourelle.
[Sidenote: FIGURES OF LANDSKNECHTE]
Among these designs for painted glass there is a considerable group in
which the mercenary soldier or landsknecht of Holbein’s day forms the
chief subject. These warriors are introduced as heraldic supporters of
shields, and were intended, no doubt, for the use of burghers and nobles
who had seen military service, while others were designed for the city
authorities. The fact that in most cases the shields are left blank
shows that Holbein produced them as stock patterns for the
glass-painters, which could be adapted to the use of any customer who
desired a military subject for his window. In these designs Holbein has
made effective use of the picturesque and sumptuous dress and
richly-decorated weapons these bold and reckless fighting-men affected.
One of the earliest of them in point of date is in the Historical Museum
of Berne.[311] It is, unfortunately, only the lower half of a design, of
which the remaining portion is now lost. Only the legs, the lower part
of the body, and the left hand, with which the landsknecht grasps his
sword, are seen, together with part of the shaft of his lance. His right
foot is hidden by a large shield containing the coat of arms of the city
of Basel. The bases of the columns on either side very closely resemble
those in the glass design of the “Prodigal Son,” which places the date
at about 1520. The soldier is represented as standing on a platform
above the river Rhine, and down below, seen between and on either side
of his outstretched legs, is a distant landscape, drawn in a free and
masterly manner, of exceptional interest on account of its elaborate
detail. Across the rapidly-flowing river stretches a wide tressel bridge
supported on wooden piers, which leads to an arched gateway in a high
tower. Along the river bank, on either side of the bridge, are a number
of houses, and behind them a town within steep fortified walls, with
many buildings huddled together, and a church tower rising above the
surrounding roofs. In the distance ranges of snow mountains close in the
view. Trees and a high rock on the near side of the water fill the
background on the left-hand side of the design. The view Holbein has
thus shown is by no means an exact representation of Basel as seen from
across the water, but is rather the simplified type of a Rhine town of
his day. It is not improbable that the artist, in addition to the
wall-paintings in the new Town Hall, also supplied designs for the
windows in some of the rooms, in which case this fragment of a drawing,
which contains the city coat of arms, may very possibly have formed a
part of such decoration.[312]
The other sheets with landsknechte were produced some few years after
the Berne study, though, according to an old copy of one of them, not
later than 1524. In most of them the motive consists of two warriors
supporting an empty shield between them. It was first used by Holbein in
1517 in a glass painting for Hans Fleckenstein of Lucerne,[313] and was
followed a year or two afterwards by the beautiful design in the Basel
Gallery and the still later and equally beautiful study in the Berlin
Print Room. The date of the last-named drawing can be fixed with some
certainty from an old copy which is inscribed 1523. The example at Basel
(Pl. 42 (1))[314] must have been done shortly after the completion of
the wall-paintings of the Hertenstein house. In the decorative details
of the architectural setting it bears a close resemblance to the glass
design of the Madonna with the view of Lucerne in the background, of the
year 1519, while the warrior on the right is seen again in an early
glass design in the Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris.[315] The double
columns carrying the arch in the Basel drawing are richly ornamented,
and at the base are supported by a number of small nude sculptured
figures. Festoons of laurel leaves and ribbons hang down from the arch—a
feature to be found in many of these designs—and in the angles over the
capitals are round medallions with antique heads, which was also a
favourite decorative motive with Holbein, and, as already noted, is
rarely missing from any of his Renaissance frameworks. The two
landsknechte wear breastplates over their gay attire, and large slouched
hats with many feathers. The one on the left, a bearded man, carries
sword and dagger, and holds a battle-axe on his shoulder; the one on the
right, clean shaven, leans upon the shaft of his lance. The two figures
are splendidly conceived and drawn with the greatest force and truth;
and the whole design affords proof of how considerable an effect his
stay in Lucerne and his short visit to Northern Italy had upon his art,
and of the extraordinarily rapid manner in which his genius for
decorative design, and his delight in the invention of these settings of
Renaissance architecture, developed under these new influences. The
background of this particular design, which, according to Dr. Ganz, is
strongly reminiscent of the country in the Vierwaldstättersee, shows the
tall tower of some village church, the lower part of which is hidden by
the beautifully-designed Italian shield which the two warriors support,
situated in a hilly landscape, with the sharp peaks of a range of
mountains in the distance.
[Sidenote: FIGURES OF LANDSKNECHTE]
A similar background is shown in the design in the Berlin Print
Room,[316] though only the red roof of the church tower appears above
the shield. This drawing has been touched with colour in places, the
faces of the two landsknechte with red, and also the roofs of the houses
of the village seen in the distance, the landscape with green and brown,
while colour is also used in several of the decorative details, such as
the festoons hanging from the wide flattened arch. The attitudes of the
two shield-bearers are more natural and less forced than in the Basel
sheet. They are dressed in the same fashion, the man on the right
wearing his large feathered hat fastened to his back, and leaning on a
large pike held with both hands. The soldier on the left, an exceedingly
graceful figure, with a long lance placed point downwards, rests one
hand on the shield, and with the other touches his sword hilt. The
architectural setting is similar in general design to that of the Basel
example, though here the arch is supported by pairs of short slender
columns, with sculptured figures of Judith and Lucretia standing on the
capitals, and above them Samson and Hercules, while a long frieze over
the arch contains a battle of nude foot soldiers and horsemen, in the
midst of a shallow stream.
In another drawing in the Basel Gallery,[317] the shield, a fine
heraldic design, completely fills the right-hand side of the sheet. It
contains a coat of arms consisting of two pears hanging from a branch
and a star on either side, and, surmounting the shield, a helmet with
large upstanding wings, between which is placed a branch with a single
pear, elaborate scroll-work falling on either side. On the left stands a
fierce-looking landsknecht, with his plumed hat on his back, and a great
two-handed sword upon his shoulder. Over the crown of the arch, but not
forming part of the architectural design, is a battle scene with four
men fighting, two with long lances and one with a gun. This drawing,
which is a most effective one, is signed “H.H.” The design in the
Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris,[318] appears to be one of the earliest of
all, produced during his stay in Lucerne. It is evident, from the figure
on the left-hand side, that it was ordered in celebration of a wedding,
the richly-dressed young lady wearing a bridal crown being the
newly-wedded wife of the landsknecht standing on the right. Each one
supports a shield with a coat of arms, the woman’s consisting of three
arrows, and the man’s of an anchor. The soldier, with long pike over his
shoulder, has a strong facial likeness, as already mentioned, to the
warrior on the right of the Basel design, while the face of his wife is
of the same type as the head in the Louvre study for the Solothurn
“Madonna.” In the background is a castle on a precipitous rock by the
side of a lake, shut in by a mountain range. The framework consists of
two columns with grotesque heads in the capitals, supporting some
elaborate scroll-work in place of an arch. Several other drawings in
which these mercenaries form the subject are in existence,[319]
including a study from life of a seated landsknecht at Berlin,[320]
which was formerly in the Lawrence and Suermondt Collections.
VOL. I., PLATE 43.
[Illustration:
DESIGN FOR PAINTED GLASS
With the Coat of Arms of the Von Hewen Family
1520
BASEL GALLERY
]
A glass design at Basel (No. 341), remarkable for the beauty and freedom
of its luxuriant Renaissance scroll design, and also for its fine
architecture, bears the date 1520 (Pl. 43).[321] This design is without
supporting figures, the whole of the centre of the sheet being filled
with a blank shield, surmounted by two helmets with elaborate crests,
one with the rampant body of a winged goat, and the other with a pair of
curved trumpet-shaped horns. From them flows, down either side of the
shield, a mass of beautifully-drawn scroll and leaf ornament. This
elaborate coat of arms, designed for a married couple, is placed in an
architectural setting resembling a Romanesque church portal. The
circular arch is supported by six pillars on either side. At the base of
the two nearer ones kneel warriors in Roman armour, supporting a blank
tablet for some inscription; above each is a small blindfolded and
trumpet-blowing cupid, with a body ending in foliated scrolls, and on
the capitals stand sculptured figures of Mercury and Cronos, the
devourer of mankind, resting on his scythe, and about to swallow a small
naked child. Behind their heads are two tablets, chained to the crown of
the arch, one inscribed “MERCHVRIVS EIN PLONET,” and the other, “ANNO
DOMINI·M·D·XX·H.” The upper moulding of the arch is filled with small
sculptured figures of saints, kings, warriors, and others of humbler
rank. In the lower right-hand corner is written “d he’ von Hewen,”
showing that the design was made for a member of the noble family of Von
Hewen, who was probably a churchman, and, judging from the inscription
round the helmet on the right—“DHIOEQV”—a knight of the Order of St.
John. Dr. Ganz suggests,[322] therefore, that the orderer of the glass
was Wolfgang von Hewen, Canon of Trier, Strasburg, and Chur, who became
Rector of Freiburg University in 1504. There is in the Basel Gallery a
companion drawing with the coat of arms of the Von Andlau family, which,
however, is not so fine a design.[323]
Another and still more elaborate design of a like nature, and of the
same year, 1520, was made for Georg von Massmünster, Abbot of Murbach,
of which the original glass painting is in a private collection in
Basel.[324] The coat of arms which fills the centre of the panel is
surmounted by a mitre between two croziers, and many small putti and
other figures are introduced into the architectural setting.
[Sidenote: COAT OF ARMS OF PETRUS FABRINUS]
Another purely heraldic drawing may be mentioned here, although not
intended for reproduction as a glass painting. It contains the arms of a
compatriot of Holbein’s, Petrus Fabrinus of Augsburg, who became Rector
of Basel University.[325] It is painted in gouache on vellum, and was
done for insertion in the Matriculation Book of the University in 1523.
The arms are placed in front of a Renaissance portico, supported by two
columns of green marble, and with a triangular pediment, over which is a
flaming brazier, while two naked cupids are seated on the capitals of
the columns. In the angles of the arch are two medallions with antique
crowned heads. A yellow curtain hides the whole of the lower part of the
background. The left half of the shield shows three roses on a blue
ground, and the right three fishes on black. It is crowned with a
helmet, from which springs the figure of a Moor in parti-coloured dress,
who holds in either hand, attached to ribbons from his turban, the three
roses and the three fish.
Another heraldic drawing for glass-painting is of particular interest
because it was designed by Holbein for Erasmus.[326] It represents the
truncated form of the god Hermes as Terminus within an arch supported by
single columns, standing in a wide, undulating landscape. The statue is
turned three-quarters to the left, the head surrounded by rays, the eyes
looking upwards. Over the head, suspended by ribbons from the arch,
hangs a large wooden tablet for an inscription, placed slantwise, like
the figure below it. The latter bears a considerable likeness to Erasmus
himself. The setting is unusually simple, both pillars and arch being
almost devoid of ornament, with the exception of a panel with
roughly-indicated winged figures terminating in floriated scrolls, and
two roundels with the customary heads in the angles of the arch. The
background, which consists of some open fields, with a tree or two, one
distant house, and hilly country beyond, the whole indicated with a few
lines and touches of green colour, slight as it is, shows to advantage
Holbein’s knowledge of landscape perspective. There is a freedom and
simplicity in the drawing, a dignity of conception, and a fine sense of
proportion, which indicate that it is one of the latest in date of his
drawings for glass, and that it was most probably made shortly before
his departure for England in 1526. Erasmus adopted Terminus, the god of
boundaries and established ways, as his symbol after Alexander Stuart,
Archbishop of St. Andrews, had presented him, when in Italy, with a gold
ring set with a cornelian on which was engraved the figure of Hermes and
the motto “CONCEDO NULLI”;[327] and this motto Holbein has placed in
large letters across the sky of the drawing on either side of the head.
Thus the design, by means of the symbols used, suggests the character of
the philosopher himself, a man who in the opinions he held would yield
to no man, and yet in his writings confined himself to established ways,
and broke few boundaries. This drawing is in the Amerbach Collection.
In the British Museum there is a glass design representing a Wild Man of
the Woods, drawn with the brush and washed with Indian ink and a slight
colour wash.[328] It represents a naked bearded man, with a defiant
look, his head and loins girt with forest leaves, holding an uprooted
sapling in his hands, and with feet planted apart. He stands on a stone
ledge forming the sill of a window, decorated with pilasters and
garlands in the Renaissance style and opening upon a hollow among
mountains covered with pines. It was purchased in 1895 with the Malcolm
Collection, and is an exceedingly fine drawing. Sandrart appears to have
possessed a copy of it.
[Sidenote: “CHRIST ON THE CROSS”]
Two glass designs, one in the Basel Gallery and the other in Paris, show
that though Holbein at this period of his life was strongly influenced
by North Italian art, yet the earlier influence of such German painters
as Grünewald and Hans Baldung Grien, gained through a study of their
great altar-pieces, had by no means been completely overshadowed. For
some years at least after he had become a citizen of Basel these two
divergent forces in his development both made themselves felt in varying
degrees in much of his work, so that it is not at all easy to arrange in
chronological order the large number of decorative designs and other
works he produced at this time. This double influence can be easily
traced in these “scheibenrisse” of “Christ on the Cross between the
Virgin and St. John,” and “The Annunciation.” In the former[329] the
influence of Grünewald is to be seen in the two standing figures, in
both of which, and more particularly in that of St. John, the acute
grief which overpowers them as they gaze on the crucified Christ is
strongly, even violently, depicted. St. John, by the agitated movements
of his whole body, his extended fingers, and his open mouth, shows how
passionately he is suffering. The framework which surrounds them is
over-decorated with a conglomeration of Renaissance motives. The side
columns are covered, and their form almost hidden, by masses of plastic
ornament, writhing snakes round the bases, and above them grotesque
heads with long tassels hanging from their mouths; and, higher up,
sculptured figures of a sphinx-like nature. In contrast to this, the
background is filled with one of his naturally-treated landscape scenes,
with a high rock on the right behind St. John, from which a tree is
growing, and on the left a glimpse of a town by a lake, with mountains
beyond and a cloudy sky overhead.
The “Annunciation” drawing, in the collection of M. Léon Bonnat,
Paris,[330] shows so many points in common with Grünewald’s altar-piece
at Isenheim, not only in the general arrangement of the figures, but in
numerous details, that it seems evident that Holbein must have been well
acquainted with it.[331] As his father was working at Isenheim for some
considerable time, it is exceedingly probable that his sons, even if
they did not accompany him directly there from Augsburg, as the first
stage on their journey to Basel, paid him one or more visits, for the
distance between the two places was not great. Holbein has placed the
kneeling Mary on one side of a wooden chest on which rests a cushion
with her book; on the other side the Angel of the Annunciation has just
alighted, an imposing winged figure, very richly and elaborately
dressed, holding a long sceptre in one hand, and the other outstretched
towards the Virgin. The latter is by no means one of Holbein’s most
pleasing representations of the Mother of our Lord; it is to the angel
the eye turns as the centre of interest. The Romanesque pillar and
frieze behind the Virgin is a motive taken from the crypt of the Minster
of Basel, while the wooden barrel roof of the chamber at the back, in
which the Virgin’s bed is placed, was common in Holbein’s day throughout
Switzerland in council chambers, courts of justice, and other large
rooms.[332] The architectural framework resembles that of the
“Crucifixion” drawing in the lavishness of its somewhat incongruous
ornamental details. The bases of the columns are sheathed with grotesque
heads from which spring large foliated scrolls, supporting wicker
baskets filled with fruit and leaves. Dr. Ganz gives the date of the
drawing as about 1521 or 1522.
VOL. I., PLATE 44.
[Illustration:
ST. ELIZABETH, WITH KNEELING KNIGHT AND BEGGAR
Design for painted glass
BASEL GALLERY
]
In composition and technique the foregoing drawing resembles a design
for a glass painting in the Basel Collection, representing “St.
Elizabeth” (Pl. 44),[333] like the last named touched with bistre. The
figure of the saint is placed within a semicircular niche, round which
run a number of slender, decorated pillars, apparently of wood, which
support the dome-shaped roof with its large rosettes in compartments and
a frieze of ox-heads and ribbons. St. Elizabeth, who is dressed in the
rich costume of a noblewoman or wealthy burgher’s wife, with her hair
covered by a long veil which falls down her back, holds up the front of
her gown with her right hand in the customary Basel manner, and with the
other pours wine or water into a bowl held by a kneeling and almost
naked beggar, who gazes up into her face. On the other side of her
kneels a bearded knight in full armour, with hands raised in prayer, his
feathered helmet and his mailed gloves on the ground before him. He is
evidently the donor of the window for which the drawing is the original
design. His breastplate, with its high gorget, and his other
accoutrements, resemble those worn by St. Ursus in the Solothurn
picture, and the kneeling beggar recalls the penitent in the same work.
The saint, a very graceful and beautifully-drawn figure, is placed on a
low circular platform of wood or stone, giving the suggestion of a work
of sculpture. The whole is strongly reminiscent of the more elaborate
monumental tombs of the Italian Renaissance erected in the interior of
some church. At the bottom of the drawing, on either side, rise the
capitals of two columns, as though the niche in which the figures are
placed were raised at some considerable height from the ground. These
capitals bear small boys in Roman helmets holding empty shields. The
graceful and refined architecture of this drawing suggests, according to
Dr. Ganz, that it was designed after Holbein’s journey to Montpellier in
1523, during which he became acquainted with the fine buildings of the
French Renaissance in Besançon, Dijon, Lyon, and elsewhere.
[Sidenote: “ST. ELIZABETH WITH KNEELING DONOR”]
The same influence is to be seen in a second glass design at Basel,
representing the Virgin with the Child in her arms and a kneeling donor
on the left (Pl. 45),[334] in which the architectural setting is even
more beautiful than in the one just described, of which it is a free
variant. The Virgin stands, crowned, on a low sculptured pedestal in
front of a shallow niche under a circular arch beneath a pointed
vaulting, the filling in of which is carved like a scallop-shell, as in
the “Meyer Madonna.” The pilasters which support it and the frieze of
Renaissance ornamentation are flat, and the whole setting is admirable
in its restraint and quiet beauty, and its well-balanced masses. The
Virgin is surrounded with projecting rays from head to foot, a symbol of
the Immaculate Conception, and the whole figure, like that in the
foregoing design, is of tall, fine proportions, unlike so many of
Holbein’s figures in his earlier drawings, and gives the impression of a
carved wooden statue with rays of metal or gilded wood. The Child in her
arms is kicking out his legs, and raises one chubby fist in the air,
looking over his mother’s arm with a cross expression, as though angry
at having been lifted from the ground. The armed, kneeling knight
appears to be the same donor as in the other drawing, but is turned more
towards the spectator, with hands uplifted as he gazes in adoration.
This exceptionally beautiful and masterly design is said to have been
reproduced on a considerably larger scale for a window of the church of
St. Theodore in Little Basel. A fragment of the glass, containing the
Madonna’s head, is preserved in the Historical Museum in Basel.
VOL. I., PLATE 45.
[Illustration:
THE VIRGIN AND CHILD, WITH A KNEELING DONOR
Design for painted glass
BASEL GALLERY
]
By far the most important of Holbein’s designs for glass windows are
those forming the series of ten subjects from the “Passion of Christ,”
in the Basel Gallery, which in dramatic power and fertility of invention
surpass all his earlier treatments of this great subject. The range over
which the series extends is a shorter one than in the painted
altar-piece in eight scenes representing the same subject. The latter
begins with the “Mount of Olives” and ends with the “Entombment,”
whereas the glass designs start with “Christ before Caiaphas” and
conclude with the “Crucifixion,” so that the part of the story which is
represented is told with greater detail. In most cases the designs are
arranged in pairs, with the architectural framework in close though not
exact correspondence, and similarly shaped and decorated spaces left at
the bottom for the inclusion of the appropriate scriptural text.
Evidently in each of the windows of the church for which they were
designed pairs of subjects were to be placed side by side. Two of the
scenes, however, seem to be single designs, the “Mocking” (No. 3), and
the “Ecce Homo” (No. 6), in which the setting corresponds with none of
the other drawings; while in the two last of the series, the “Nailing to
the Cross” and the “Crucifixion,” the architectural framework only
agrees in its general lines, though the designs evidently form a pair.
Apparently, therefore, the series was made for a range of six windows,
four of them with double and two with single divisions. According to Dr.
Ganz, the series was begun, but not completed, by Holbein in 1523, his
journey to the south of France intervening. On his return to Basel he
resumed the work, which was probably finished by the end of the same
year or early in 1524. He sees differences, more particularly in the
architecture, in certain of the drawings, such as the “Mocking,” which
suggest that the artist had gained fresh ideas from his study of the
buildings in the towns through which he passed on his way to
Montpellier, where he went to deliver the portrait of Erasmus to
Bonifacius Amerbach.
[Sidenote: THE “PASSION OF CHRIST” SERIES]
The series opens with “Christ before Caiaphas” (Pl. 46 (1)).[335] The
high priest is seen from the side, seated upon a throne raised on steps
within a richly-decorated hall, through the entrance to which the
soldiers escorting Christ are crowding. Christ stands below his judge,
his hands bound, and his sorrowful face turned towards one of the
soldiers, who, with uplifted fist, is about to strike him. The second
scene, that of the “Scourging” (Pl. 46 (2)),[336] is enacted in another
part of the same building, showing the same low, flattened arches, and a
corresponding pillar on the right with Renaissance carving in flat
relief and inlaid marble. Christ, his head drooping on his shoulder, an
almost nude figure, is bound to a broad circular column with a decorated
top. In the action of the three soldiers who are plying their whips and
scourges there is little of that exaggerated vehemence of action which
is to be seen in Holbein’s earlier versions of this subject, while in
both this and the succeeding pictures the type of face is less
repulsive, and greater reticence is shown in the display of brutality.
In most cases the faces of the soldiers are turned away from the
spectator, or half hidden by their action, or only seen in profile. The
distortion and caricature have disappeared, and his types have become
natural ones, taken from the daily life around him. The costume in few
instances only is that of Holbein’s time, and the soldiers wear what is
intended to be the antique Roman dress, such as had become familiar to
him through Mantegna’s designs. Near Christ, in “The Scourging,” a
little behind the central group, stands a bearded man in the gown and
hood of a monk, resting on a stick, as though superintending the
punishment, and waiting for a confession; and in the background a
gallery runs across the building under the arches, from which a second
hooded figure is looking down on the scene.
Unlike the other sheets of the set, the “Mocking of Christ” (Pl. 47
(1))[337] takes place beneath the high, pointed vaulting of some Gothic
building, with its arches open to the sky. Christ, blindfolded and with
tied hands, his body covered by the robe they have placed over him, is
seated in the centre, with bent head, and mouth half open with pain. One
of the soldiers kneels, and thrusts the reed into his hand as a sceptre,
while a second, stooping down, clutches his hair with one hand, and
raises the other as though about to strike him in the face. On the left
between two pillars stands a tall figure clad in a long gown, and the
upper part of his face concealed by a hood of a peculiar pattern, with a
hanging peak behind, such as is associated with portraits of Dante. This
spectator, who is also to be seen among the crowd in the first design,
has a cynical smile on his face. The whole group, which suggests a study
for a work of plastic art, is shown in strong foreshortening, as though
it were intended to be seen from some distance below; and the same
effect is produced by the perspective of the vaulting and in the drawing
of the hanging lamp, of an unusual and interesting pattern, over
Christ’s head.[338] This drawing is, perhaps, the most beautiful of all,
the happiest in its composition, and the most spiritual in its feeling.
VOL. I., PLATE 46.
[Illustration:
CHRIST BEFORE CAIAPHAS
The “Passion” series of designs for painted glass
BASEL GALLERY
]
[Illustration:
THE SCOURGING OF CHRIST
The “Passion” series of designs for painted glass
BASEL GALLERY
]
VOL. I., PLATE 47.
[Illustration:
THE MOCKING OF CHRIST
The “Passion” series of designs for painted glass
BASEL GALLERY
]
[Illustration:
CHRIST CROWNED WITH THORNS
The “Passion” series of designs for painted glass
BASEL GALLERY
]
[Sidenote: THE “PASSION OF CHRIST” SERIES]
The remaining sheets of the series have each an independent
architectural framework, which forms no part of the actual setting of
the scene itself, but through which it is seen like a picture. In the
“Crowning with Thorns” and “Pilate washing his Hands” it consists of two
pillars with large diamond-shaped panels containing antique heads in
medallions, and, above the elaborately-carved capitals, charmingly-drawn
winged putti supporting the ends of a wreath which hangs from the centre
of the frame. In the “Crowning” (Pl. 47 (2)),[339] Christ is seen from
the side, an almost nude figure, seated on a high stone step in front of
a building upon which Holbein has given free play to his delight in the
richest Renaissance forms. In the Saviour’s downcast face is a look of
intense suffering, nobly borne. Two of the soldiers press the crown of
thorns upon his head by means of a long curved stick held across it,
which a third man is striking violently with a stout staff, in order to
force it securely down. A fourth kneels in front and thrusts the reed
into the victim’s hands with a jeer. Behind them, on the left, Pilate
stands, his wand of office held aloft. In the next scene (Pl. 48
(1))[340] Pilate is seated on a high throne with a canopy supported by
chains fastened to the necks of two sculptured figures, and long
curtains, both canopy and curtains being decorated with the lilies of
France. This throne, or judgment-seat, is placed in an open court, and
in the background rises a Gothic building of the type to be seen in the
streets of Basel in Holbein’s day. Pilate performs the symbolic action
of washing his hands with the greatest vigour and determination, one
attendant holding a large flat basin in front of him while a second
pours in the water. On the right Christ is being led away by a crowd of
soldiers with uplifted pikes and spears. Pilate, with head turned
towards the departing Saviour, is calling after him, strong excitement
shown on his face.
[Sidenote: THE “PASSION OF CHRIST” SERIES]
The next scene, the “Ecce Homo” (Pl. 48 (2)),[341] also takes place
outside the hall of judgment, with a large Gothic building with
pinnacled gables filling in the background. This building is neither
German nor Italian in style, but of late Gothic French architecture, of
the type of the hospital founded by the Chancellor Nicolas Rollin in
Beaune, a town through which Holbein would be likely to pass on his way
to Montpellier, and for this reason Dr. Ganz regards it as one of the
latest of the series, done after the artist’s return to Basel in 1524.
Holbein has made use of the same building in the cut of the Empress in
the “Dance of Death.”[342] Pilate stands in the open doorway on the
right, with Christ by his side. One hand grasps his wand of office, and
the other is held up as though demanding silence from the crowd of
spectators and soldiery filling the space below him, who are shouting
and gesticulating, and pointing their fingers in scorn at the drooping
figure by Pilate’s side. Here again the expression of suppressed anguish
and pain on Christ’s face has been admirably suggested by the artist,
who has also produced the effect of a large and vehemently-agitated
crowd of people by means of a few figures cleverly grouped and
contrasted. Behind the Saviour is seen the head of the man in the
hood-like cap, possibly intended for some official of the Court, who is
shown in two of the earlier designs of the set. He appears again in the
“Cross-bearing” (Pl. 49(1)),[343] the last figure issuing from the gate,
and here, too, Holbein, with admirable skill in composition, has
produced the effect of a large body of excited people. The procession on
its way to Calvary has just issued through the gateway of the town, a
view of the street with its high-roofed houses being seen in the
background through the archway, and on the right the outer wall with a
circular tower at the angle. The general composition follows with some
closeness Holbein’s earlier versions of the subject, though marked by
less passionate action and less insistence on ugly facial types. Christ,
a most nobly-conceived figure, in the centre of the procession, is
stumbling under the weight of the great cross, though he has not
actually fallen to the ground. He is urged forward by the soldiers who
surround Him, some of whom raise their clenched fists, while one, clad
in Roman helmet and armour, thrusts a great cudgel into his side with a
brutal energy which is mirrored in his face. In front walk the two
thieves, almost nude, their hands tied behind them, the one who is
turning towards the spectator with a finely-drawn head full of
character. Above the crowd rise the shafts and points of weapons of many
shapes, together with the uplifted ladder and the reed. The framework
surrounding this drawing and its fellow is exceptionally rich in its
decorative treatment. The columns with their basket-work and flat
stucco-like ornament are connected across the top of the sheet by an
acanthusleaf scroll design of great beauty, recalling similar work on
the organ shutters in Basel Minster, which surrounds and supports a
wreath containing an antique head in the centre. The scroll-work in the
next design, the “Stripping of Christ’s Garments” (Pl. 49 (2)),[344] is
entwined round the bodies of two naked boys. The Saviour kneels upon the
Cross, in the utmost misery and dejection, while two soldiers tear his
garments from him with great violence. In striking contrast to these two
men is the figure of the kneeling man in the front who is boring holes
in the wood to take the nails. He bends over his work, indifferent or
oblivious to the turmoil around him, or to the tragedy in which he is
playing his humble part. Behind the central group there is a great
concourse of people, among whom can be distinguished one of the thieves,
and a man with uplifted mattock preparing a hole for the Cross, and, on
the right, the head and shoulders of Pilate. In this scene most of the
figures are clad in contemporary dress.
VOL. I., PLATE 48.
[Illustration:
PILATE WASHING HIS HANDS
The “Passion” series of designs for painted glass
BASEL GALLERY
]
[Illustration:
ECCE HOMO
The “Passion” series of designs for painted glass
BASEL GALLERY
]
VOL. I., PLATE 49.
[Illustration:
CHRIST BEARING THE CROSS
The “Passion” series of designs for painted glass
BASEL GALLERY
]
[Illustration:
THE STRIPPING OF CHRIST’S GARMENTS
The “Passion” series of designs for painted glass
BASEL GALLERY
]
An even greater crowd is shown in the last scene but one, the “Nailing
to the Cross” (Pl. 50(1)).[345] Christ lies stretched upon the ground,
his body upon the Cross. One of the kneeling executioners forces down
his right arm with both hands, while a second, with uplifted hammer, is
driving in a huge nail through his palm. On the other side a third man
has seized the left arm and is dragging it with violence towards him in
order to stretch the body to the utmost. Behind them the soldiers are
casting lots for the garments, and still farther away the crosses with
the two thieves are being raised aloft. On the right Pilate, on a mule,
gazes down at the agonised body of the Saviour, as does a man placed
nearer to the spectator, wearing a scholar’s cap and gown, who bears
some small likeness to Erasmus. In the front, on the ground, is placed a
circular wooden box with handles, containing the executioner’s tools.
The columns of the framework are supported by fauns. In the last scene
of all, representing the “Crucifixion” (Pl. 50 (2)),[346] the two
crosses with the bodies of the thieves are placed at right angles to the
central one, on which Christ is nailed, as in the same subject in the
painted altar-panel. This drawing is the only one in the set in which
the Virgin and St. John are introduced. St. John, gazing upwards at the
Saviour, whose sufferings are at length over, supports the Virgin’s
drooping body as she leans forward with clasped hands against the foot
of the Cross. On the opposite side, on the right, the Centurion, in full
Roman armour, and with a large shield decorated with a Medusa head,
lifts up his right arm as a sign of his belief. Behind him is a soldier
with his crossbow under his arm, and his hands clasped as though he,
too, were moved to the utmost by the tragedy. A man who has just affixed
the placard over Christ’s head is descending a ladder raised at the back
of the Cross, and on either side, above the heads of the crowd, are seen
the uplifted reed with the sponge dipped in vinegar, and the spear which
pierced the Saviour’s side. In this scene there is little of the energy
and even violence of the earlier pictures; for the action has come to an
end with the death of Christ, and Holbein has depicted it as though a
hush had fallen over the multitude of people who, with uplifted faces,
are gazing on their handiwork. Their attitudes are quiet and restrained,
the vehemence of passion has subsided, and the presence of death has
quelled all anger and clamour. Each picture of the series is
characterised by great dramatic power, and a force and dignity of
conception which shows a striking advance in Holbein’s art when compared
with the early “Passion” scenes on canvas. In the simplicity and
grandeur of their composition, and in the largeness of their design,
they afford evidence that had Holbein worked on the southern side of the
Alps, he would have equalled, if he had not surpassed, in work of this
kind, the frescoes and wall-paintings of the great Italian masters.
VOL. I., PLATE 50.
[Illustration:
CHRIST NAILED TO THE CROSS
The “Passion” series of designs for painted glass
BASEL GALLERY
]
[Illustration:
THE CRUCIFIXION
The “Passion” series of designs for painted glass
BASEL GALLERY
]
Replicas of seven of these ten designs, but reversed, are in the British
Museum.[347] They are not the direct work of Holbein’s hand, but offsets
taken from the Basel drawings by means of damped paper, a common
practice with the artist in making decorative designs for such things as
cups or goblets, in which the ornamentation on both sides of the object
was similar. In the same manner Holbein obtained copies of the “Passion”
drawings, and they were afterwards strengthened in places by retouches
with a fine brush and Indian ink, undoubtedly the work of Holbein
himself. They have thus very largely the character of the original
drawings, and are equal to them in effect, though lighter in appearance
on account of the method employed, the Indian ink shading being paler in
colour than in the originals. In the “Cross-bearing” additional
retouches in sepia by a later and weaker hand, which greatly mar the
design, are to be seen. The three missing subjects are the “Scourging,”
“Christ Crowned with Thorns,” and the “Nailing to the Cross.” This set
was formerly in the Lawrence Collection, from which it was purchased for
the Museum. It may possibly be the series possessed by Sandrart, which
he calls a “Passion in folio,” of which two compositions of the set were
missing. Sandrart offered 200 florins to anyone who would procure them
for him, so that he could exhibit the work complete for the honour of
the great master who designed it.
[Sidenote: COSTUMES WORN BY BASEL LADIES]
Among the drawings and designs of this period which were not made for
the purpose of reproduction in painted glass, the set representing the
costumes worn by contemporary Basel ladies is among the most important.
There are six of these,[348] or rather five, for the sixth, which
represents a _fille de joie_ with large hat and low-cut dress (Pl. 51
(1)), is not regarded as a work from Holbein’s own hand. They are pen
and wash drawings, and, with the exception of the last one, were in
Amerbach’s possession. It is not easy to say exactly for what purpose
they were made, but certainly not for painted glass. It has been
suggested that they represent designs for dresses invented by
Holbein—sixteenth-century fashion plates—which the ladies of Basel
afterwards used as models; but a simpler and more natural explanation is
that they are merely studies of costume made from time to time when
Holbein saw a dress which pleased him, which would be of use in the
carrying out of his wall-paintings, or his book illustrations, or in
other ways. They appear to have been done during his first years in
Basel. Perhaps the earliest of them is the one of the noble lady with a
hat covered with ostrich feathers,[349] and her hair confined in a
silken net at the back, who wears a dress of watered silk with a train,
which she holds up with her right hand. This, according to Dr. Ganz, is
of about the date 1516 or 1517, and in draughtsmanship and handling has
much in common with the portrait of Meyer’s wife, Dorothea, while the
embroidery and tassel-work of the bodice in both the drawing and the
picture are very similar. The drawing of the Basel “Edeldame” (Pl.
52),[350] taken almost from the back, which is the most beautiful of the
series, is certainly a little later in date, and shows great freedom,
delicacy, and truth of draughtsmanship. Her hair is covered with a
semi-transparent striped gauze cap, of a similar pattern to the one in
the portrait of the burgomaster’s wife. The neck and shoulders are
covered with fine white lawn, and the plain dress is only relieved by
deep bands of velvet, and a girdle from which is suspended a metal case
of chased work for a measure or “house-wife” at the end of a long band.
At least two ladies appear to have served Holbein as a model for these
studies. The “Frau Burgermeister,” Dorothea Kannengiesser, posed as the
Baseler “Burgersfrau,”[351] and perhaps as the “Edeldame,” while for the
remaining studies, among them that of the patrician dame with the
feather hat already described, a model of a more lovely and a more
wanton appearance served him, who later on was painted by him as “Laïs
Corinthiaca.” In a second drawing of the set the same lady appears in a
gown with puffed sleeves and deep velvet bands, embroidered petticoat
and head-dress, and wearing a number of ornaments round her neck,
including an openwork collar with the word “AMOR.”[352] The same model
appears in a third drawing (Pl. 51 (2)), in which she poses as a
waitress, or hostess, with a tall cylindrical beer-glass supported on
her right hand, while with the other she holds up her finely-pleated
apron.[353] She wears a large flat hat of unusual shape on the side of
her head, trimmed all round with bunches of feathers, and round her neck
is a gold collar of openwork with the initials “M.O.” repeated several
times. The “Amor” of the first-named collar or neckband was the
invention, in all probability, of the artist himself, by adding an A and
an R to the initials, M.O., of the lady’s name. These initials indicate
that Holbein’s sitter was Magdalena Offenburg, and the likeness between
these studies and the “Laïs” and “Venus” pictures is striking.[354] This
notorious personage, by birth a Tschekkenbürlin, and the mother of
Dorothea Offenburg, who at one time was regarded as the model of the
“Laïs,” married, on the death of Hans Offenburg in 1514, Christof
Truchsess von Wolhusen. She appears to have served as a model and to
have had relationships of a doubtful character with more than one
painter of Basel. There is a drawing of her by Urs Graf, dated 1516, to
which he has added an indecorous marginal note reflecting upon her
course of life.[355]
VOL. I., PLATE 51.
[Illustration:
COSTUME STUDY
Two drawings from a set of designs of Ladies’ Costumes
BASEL GALLERY
]
[Illustration:
COSTUME STUDY
Two drawings from a set of designs of Ladies’ Costumes
BASEL GALLERY
]
VOL. I., PLATE 52.
[Illustration:
“THE EDELDAME”
One of a set of designs of Ladies’ Costumes
BASEL GALLERY
]
[Sidenote: COSTUMES WORN BY BASEL LADIES]
One use to which Holbein put such drawings as these is to be seen in the
“Dance of Death” woodcuts. In several of them in which women are
introduced, these costume studies are closely followed; for instance, in
the little picture of the newly-married couple, the wife’s dress is
almost identical with that in the first drawing of the “Baseler
Frauentrachten” series; and other dresses of the set are closely copied
in such cuts as “The Countess” and the “Arms of Death.” These drawings,
as already noted, show very plainly the peculiar carriage of the body in
walking which the ladies of Basel adopted in Holbein’s day, with the
back hollowed so that the lower part of the figure was thrust forward,
in a very ugly fashion to modern eyes, but no doubt necessary to some
extent owing to the length of the dress in front, which had always to be
held up by one hand.
There is a very beautiful costume study in the Library at Dessau,[356]
which is closely allied to the Basel series. It is an exceedingly
graceful rendering of a fair lady in an elaborate dress with long
hanging sleeves, and a close-fitting cap over her curled hair. The body
is slightly inclined, and with her right hand she holds up her dress,
and from the other, which is stretched out, hangs a bridle and harness.
There is much elegance and grace of movement in the figure, which
Holbein has set down with a light and flowing touch. It is doubtful what
character the model is intended to represent. Dr. Ganz calls her “Die
schöne Phyllis,” and, from the bridle she is holding, it is very
possible that Holbein intended her for that fair Phyllis who made the
learned Aristotle serve her as a horse; or she may represent Nemesis,
the driver of mankind, whom Holbein introduced into his Steelyard
wall-painting of “The Triumph of Riches,” flying through the sky with
somewhat similar attributes in her hands. Such a representation of
Nemesis or Fortune was not unusual, and occurs in more than one drawing
of the period. There is one in the Basel Gallery of “Frau Venus” by
Niklaus Manuel Deutsch, and Dürer also makes use of the bridle in his
“Great Fortune.”
The beautiful study of “St. Adrian” in the Louvre,[357] a pen and wash
drawing, touched with white, on grey paper, is probably the preliminary
design for the outer side of the shutter of an altar-piece, to be
carried out in grisaille. The saint is represented in full armour, with
a long cloak, holding the sword and anvil, symbols of his martyrdom, in
either hand, and a lion crouching at his feet. He stands on a stone
parapet, in front of which is an empty shield. The figure has much in
common with that of St. Ursus in the Solothurn Madonna picture, and
there is a still closer resemblance in face to the “St. George” in the
Karlsruhe panel, both of the year 1522. Holbein evidently made use of
the same model both for the “St. Adrian” and the “St. George,” for the
facial likeness is very close, and both wear the same bushy, curling
hair. It is, therefore, safe, following Dr. Ganz, to date the Louvre
drawing as of the same year, 1522. It was formerly catalogued as of the
North Italian School.
Holbein’s studies from the nude are so rare that the one of a young
woman in the Basel Gallery is of exceptional interest.[358] It is a pen
and wash drawing, touched with white in the high lights, on red paper.
With the exception of the “Christ in the Tomb,” and a single leaf of the
Basel “Sketch-Book,”[359] this nude woman is almost the only drawing of
the kind by him that is known. It appears to have been made merely as a
study of muscular movement, and not as a preliminary design for a
picture. The model is stepping forward from the side of a plain stone
pillar, a heavy stone held in either hand, the weight of which brings
the muscles of the arms into prominence. Her hair falls in long curls
down her back, the head is bent towards the right shoulder, and the eyes
are cast downwards, and the lips parted. Both in movement and in the
suggestion of the rounded softness of the figure the drawing is
admirable, and at the same time displays an Italian influence, recalling
similar studies by Raphael and Leonardo. Dr. Ganz places it among the
work of Holbein’s second English period.
VOL. I., PLATE 53.
[Illustration:
A FIGHT BETWEEN LANDSKNECHTE
_Drawing in Indian ink_
BASEL GALLERY
]
[Sidenote: “A FIGHT OF LANDSKNECHTE”]
Holbein made use of the Swiss landsknechte for other purposes than that
of painted windows. One or two of his most masterly drawings depict
incidents in the lives of these men, whose picturesque dress and gay and
manly bearing made a strong appeal to him. The finest and most important
of them is the large study in the Basel Gallery representing a fierce
conflict between two considerable bodies of warriors (Pl. 53).[360] It
depicts the contemporary methods of warfare with the utmost vivacity and
close adherence to truth. It is, according to Dr. Ganz, a work of
Holbein’s last residence in Basel, probably made just before his return
to England in 1532. In the foreground of the fight two men are at close
quarters, one of whom, with sword whirling over his head, grips the hair
of his opponent, who is striking at his throat with a long dagger. On
either side of them two soldiers are forcing a space round them with
enormous pikes, while behind is a great crowd of shouting, panting, and
struggling men, whose lances, dashed in with a few hasty strokes, stand
out against the sky with an extraordinary effect both of number and
movement. In the hottest part of the fight one combatant uplifts a great
double-handed sword, while another protects his face with his raised
drum. Beneath their feet are many trampled bodies and shattered weapons.
The composition is a very fine one, and the draughtsmanship of
extraordinary vigour and vitality. One can almost hear the cries and
yells, and the clash of the arms, so completely has Holbein realised the
scene, and so vividly set it down on paper with rapid but unerring
pencil.[361]
It is impossible to give here even a list of his many drawings, of which
so large a number are in the Basel Gallery. In the Amerbach Collection
there is a sheet with studies of a recumbent lamb and a lamb’s
head,[362] both drawn with the utmost delicacy in silver-point and
slightly washed with water-colour, most faithful renderings of nature,
perhaps made as a preliminary study for some picture of the youthful St.
John; and a second sheet with a drawing of the underside of a bat with
outstretched wings,[363] carried out with the same minute care, the red
veins, which show through the transparent membranes of the wings, being
put in with water-colour. In the same collection there are numerous
designs for jewellery, dagger-sheaths, cups and other vessels, for the
use of silversmiths and metal-workers; but as much of Holbein’s best
work of this kind was produced in England, discussion of them may be
reserved until a later chapter dealing with his designs for the London
goldsmiths.
------------------------------------------------------------------------