Portrait of the Artist's Family | |
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Artist | Hans Holbein the Younger |
Year | 1528–1529 |
Subject | Artist's Family |
Dimensions | 77 cm× 64 cm(30 in× 25 in) |
Location | Kunstmuseum Basel, Basel |
Portrait of the Artist's Family is a portrait of the family of the painter Hans Holbein the Younger by the artist himself. It depicts Holbein's wife Elsbeth Binzenstock, their son Philipp and their daughter Katharina. Holbein painted it during his stay in Basel after his return from England. It was painted, between 1528 and 1529, [1] on paper and glued on wood. [2]
Elsbeth is seated on a bench with her daughter on her lap and her hand resting on her son's right shoulder. [1] On the bench the numbers 152(…) can be seen in the lower right of the painting. [1] The last number has been cut off the painting, as have the fingertips of the left hand of the girl. [1] It is painted on three horizontally glued paper strips, [1] with the two on the right being much broader than the one on the left. [1] The boy's body and face are depicted in profile, the mother is painted from the front. [3] While the mother doesn't seem to be gazing at anything specific, the boy is looking at something to the upper right. [4] The mother's head is covered by a bonnet which is itself covered by a transparent veil with a fine black border. [5] The right hand of the mother seems to be incomplete. [6] The girl faces left and seems to grasp something with her left hand, which was probably on the piece cut away to the right. [7]
The fact that Holbein's wife is depicted wearing a dark blue cloth with a rosa scarf, similar to that of the Virgin Mary in Holbein's Solothurn Madonna, prompted art historian Andreas Beyer to hypothesize that the painting might be a depiction of Holbein's own "Holy Family". [8] The family is shown in modest clothing, which is in stark contrast to the riches Holbein brought back to Basel from England. [9] In an infrared reflectography it was detected that the head of Philip was set in a lower position in the painting, and it is speculated that the portrait was originally planned as a larger composition which might have also included the artist himself painting his family. [10] This theory is supported by a description of the portrait by an early owner, the painter Hans Asper, possibly at a time before the portrait was cut into its current version. [10]
It is assumed that the painting was larger and that the third piece of paper on the right included another figure, either a depiction of Holbein himself [11] or a woman resembling the Lais of Corinth. [12] A drawing of the mother and the two children and a woman resembling Lais of Corinth can be seen in the Albertina in Vienna. [13] The portrait seemed to have influenced the works of Hans Asper who, in a portrait of a woman in 1538, has transformed the two children into a cat and a dog. [14] There exist several paintings inspired by the portrait. For example, in the Palais de Beaux Arts de Lille there is a pastiche with a religious connotation in which the family is joined by a woman inspired by Holbein's Lais of Corinth in the Albertina in Vienna. [15]
For several years the painting was in the possession of Holbein's wife, Elsbeth Binzenstock. [9] By 1543 it was in the possession of Hans Asper, a portrait painter from Zürich. [16] Asper received several offers for the painting, including from Basilius Amerbach, but refused to sell it. Only after Asper's death did the portrait came into possession of Amerbach, who paid six crowns through the intermediation [6] of the pharmacist Georg Clauser from Zürich. [1] The portrait was described in the inventory of the Amerbach Cabinet in 1586, [2] which was bought by the city of Basel in 1661. [17] The painting is exhibited in the Kunstmuseum Basel.
Hans Holbein the Elder was a German painter.
Ambrosius Holbein was a German and later a Swiss artist in painting, drawing, and printmaking. He was the elder brother, by about three years, of Hans Holbein the Younger, but he appears to have died in his mid-twenties, leaving behind only a small body of work.
Hans Holbein the Younger was a German-Swiss painter and printmaker who worked in a Northern Renaissance style, and is considered one of the greatest portraitists of the 16th century. He also produced religious art, satire, and Reformation propaganda, and he made a significant contribution to the history of book design. He is called "the Younger" to distinguish him from his father Hans Holbein the Elder, an accomplished painter of the Late Gothic school.
Hans Asper was a Swiss painter best known for his portraits.
Johann Froben, in Latin: Johannes Frobenius, was a famous printer, publisher and learned Renaissance humanist in Basel. He was a close friend of Erasmus and cooperated closely with Hans Holbein the Younger. He made Basel one of the world's leading centres of the book trade. He passed his printing business on to his son, Hieronymus, and grandson, Ambrosius Frobenius.
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Venus and Amor is painting by the so-called "Venus Painter" of Hans Holbein the Youngers workshop and is conserved in the Kunstmuseum Basel, Switzerland. It was assumed for a long time to be painting by Hans Holbein the Younger, but research showed that this could not be possible. It was discovered that the painter had used a sort of a carbon paper with the contours of the already existing Laïs and used it to transfer those contours in reverse on the new portrait he was to paint of Venus. As the portrait of Laïs is dated with 1526, the year of Hans Holbeins departure from Basel, it is assumed that the work has been painted between 1526 and 1528, the years Holbein stayed in London. The painting depicts the Roman goddess of love, Venus, with her son Amor (Cupid) and the model is believed to be either Magdalena Offenburg or her daughter Dorothea. They are shown in front of a large hanging green curtain and behind a low parapet. Venus is depicted with an open gesture and sincere gaze. Cupid is seen climbing onto the parapet while holding love's arrow in his left hand. He has red-orange hair, rendered in the same colouring and tone of the rich cloth sleeves covering his mother's upper arms.
Lais of Corinth by Hans Holbein the Younger portrays the famous Lais of Corinth, a courtesan of ancient Greece who charged a high price for her favours. It has been suggested that Holbein is also referring to the Lais who was the lover of Apelles, the great painter of antiquity. The model, the same used for the Venus and Amor, has been identified as either Magdalena Offenburg or her daughter Dorothea, as it was noted by Basilius Amerbach in the archives from the Amerbach-Cabinet, that the woman depicted was someone of the Offenburg family. Dorothea would have been eighteen years of age in 1526. It was assumed that either of the two may have been Holbein's mistress. Both paintings, the Venus as the Lais, came into the possession of the Amerbach Cabinet in the late 1500s.
Jakob Meyer zum Hasen was the bürgermeister of the city of Basel from 1516 to 1521. A money changer by profession, he was the first bürgermeister of Basel to be a tradesman, belonging to a guild rather than a member of the aristocracy or a wealthy family. He is known as a patron of the painter Hans Holbein the Younger, having commissioned the Darmstadt Madonna and a double portrait from him.
The Basel Town Hall is a 500-year-old building dominating the Marktplatz in Basel, Switzerland.
The Amerbach Cabinet was a collection of artifacts, paintings, libraries, assembled by members of the Amerbach family, most notably by the two law professors of the University of Basel, Bonifacius Amerbach and his son Basilius Amerbach the Younger.
Sir Thomas More and Family is a lost painting by Hans Holbein the Younger, painted circa 1527 and known from a number of surviving copies.
Hans Holbein the Younger painted the Portrait of Erasmus of Rotterdam several times, and his paintings were much copied, at the time and later. It is difficult to disentangle Holbein's original work from that of his workshop and other copyists. Possibly five largely original versions survive, as well as a number of drawings made as studies.
Basilius Amerbach was a lawyer, professor and collector from Basel. He was the only son of Bonifacius Amerbach.
The Solothurn Madonna is an oil-on-panel painting executed in 1522 by the German-Swiss artist Hans Holbein the Younger in Basel. It shows the Virgin Mary and Christ enthroned, flanked by Martin of Tours and Ursus of Solothurn. Holbein used his wife Elsbeth as his model for the Madonna, and the baby "may well have been modelled on Holbein and Elsbeth's baby son Philipp."
Bonifacius Amerbach was a jurist, scholar, an influential humanist and the rector of the University of Basel for several terms.
The Portrait of Bonifacius Amerbach is a painting by the German master of the Renaissance Hans Holbein the Younger. It is deposited in the Basler Kunstmuseum as part of the Amerbach Cabinet. It is painted in mixed technique on pine panel and measures 29.9 cm x 28.3 cm.
In 1939 the Gallery Fischer in Lucerne organized an auction of degenerate art confiscated by the Nazis. The auction took place on 30 June 1939 in the Grand Hotel National. The auction received considerable international interest, but many of the bidders who were expected to attend were absent because they were worried the proceeds would be used by the Nazi regime.