We now come to the second of the two commanding figures in German
art, Hans Holbein the Younger (1497-1543), who was born at Augsburg
and studied under his father, the elder artist of the same name. When
he reached his maturity the Italian influence had already permeated
German art, but he was the first Northern master who knew how to
benefit by the real spirit of the Renaissance without imitating the
letter; the first to develop a noble, dignified style, free from the
florid trivialities which so many Northerners took from certain Italian
painters. He was above all a marvellous portrait painter who, in his
drawings as well as in his paintings, combines the most exquisite
delicacy and subtlety with rare strength, the greatest precision of
detail with freedom and breadth of handling. Only this phase of his art
is represented at the Louvre, which certainly owns one perfect example
of Holbein’s portraiture in the _Portrait of Erasmus_ (No. 2715, Plate
XXIV.).
Holbein had settled in Basle in 1519. He went to England in 1526, with
a letter of introduction from Erasmus to Sir Thomas More. From one
of Erasmus’s letters it would appear that Holbein had portrayed him
at least three times before 1524; and the picture now in the Louvre
was probably the one that was painted for Sir Thomas More—a better
recommendation than any letter of introduction! The profile is drawn
with inimitable mastery; and the whole character of the man can be read
from the expression of the tight-pressed lips and mobile features, as
he sits writing at his desk. Note, also, the marvellous expressiveness
of the hands, studies for which are to be found in the collection of
drawings at the Louvre.
In view of the personal relations which link together Holbein, Erasmus,
and Sir Thomas More, it would be pleasant if we could accept the
so-called _Portrait of Thomas More, Great Chancellor of England_ (No.
2717), as authentic. It does not, however, represent Holbein’s first
English patron, nor does it appear to be from the master’s own brush.