Holbein and the Renaissance in the North

He has a receding chin, a trumpet nose and a glassy eye, yet this young man has everything to please because "he does not suffer from want" is what it says on his medallion, and that’s what you can tell by looking at his clothes. The hilt of his sword reads "He who loves woos". The lucky woman, more gracious than her suitor, or perhaps more flattered by the artist, is portrayed in another companion piece painting (ill. 1 and 2).

1. Hans Holbein the Elder (c. 1464-1524)
Portrait of a Member of the Weiss Family from Augsburg, 1522
Mixed technique
on panel - 41.7 x 35.2 cm
Frankfurt, Städel Museum
Photo: bbsg

See the image in its page

2. Hans Holbein the Elder (c. 1464-1524)
and workshop
Portrait of the Wife of a Member of the Weiss Family of Augsburg, circa 1522
Mixed technique
on panel - 41 x 35 cm
London, Schroder Collection
on long-term loan to Bath, The Holburne Museum
Photo: bbsg

See the image in its page

Painted in 1522, this effigy of a member of the Weiss family of Augsburg, is one of the last works by Hans Holbein. Hans Holbein, but which one? The father, less famous than the son. And that’s what raises the eyebrows of visitors to this exhibition devoted to the German Renaissance: have they been fooled? The title, poster and cover of the catalogue suggest that the famous Holbein "the Younger" is at the heart of the subject. This is not quite true. And that’s no big deal. Not only is the subject matter fascinating, but it also has the merit of highlighting major artists who have been somewhat forgotten by the general public. Rest assured, several masterpieces by the famous son bring the exhibition to a splendid close. Beforehand, the exhibition shows the beginnings of the Renaissance in the North, focusing on one place, the city of Augsburg in Bavaria, where two pioneering painters, renowned in their day, were active: Hans Holbein the Elder and Hans Burgkmair. Their works are compared with those of other artists, German of course, including the great Albrecht Dürer, but also Dutch and Italian, Van Eyck, Donatello and others.
The catalogue includes well-documented essays recounting the golden age of Augsburg in the 15th and 16th centuries, analysing the transition from the late Gothic to the Renaissance, and tracing the careers of the artists, while notes comment on the works on display. It is also made clear which works are on show in Frankfurt and which will be on display in Vienna. This is because the exhibition first presented at the Städel Museum will then be held, with a few variations, at the Kunsthistorisches Museum.

This confrontation between the two painters is all the more interesting given that Holbein and Burgkmair did not follow the same paths. Holbein travelled to the Netherlands, probably before 1490, and was influenced by the works of Flemish primitives such as Hans Memling, Hugo van der Goes and Dirk Bouts, whose a Virgin and Child is compared to one of his Madonnas. The…