The two drawings to which reference has been made are in the Basel Collection, and are studies of two life-size sepulchral effigies of the early fifteenth century, in the cathedral of Bourges, representing the Duke Jehan de Berry, who died in 1416, and his wife, kneeling with hands clasped in prayer. In Holbein’s day the monument was still in its original position in the private chapel of the Dukes of Berry, afterwards pulled down, when the figures were removed to the ambulatory of the choir. Other parts of the monument are now in the local museum. Holbein’s masterly touch has vivified the somewhat stiff and formal attitudes of these kneeling figures, in which, however, can be seen the beginnings of that realism and individuality which formed so marked a characteristic of the work of a later period of sculpture. These two fine drawings,[402] of which that of the Duchess (Pl. 57)[403] is the more beautiful, have almost the appearance of being studies from life instead of mere transcripts from the stone, and this effect is heightened by the skilful use the artist has made of touches of red and yellow crayons to his black chalk drawings. The sharp features of the Duchess, with high forehead and pointed nose, seen in profile, are full of expression. She wears the costume of the early fifteenth century, with a high ruff and heavy gold necklace, her golden hair enclosed in a fine net, and surmounted by a diadem set with square stones and jewels. It is now only possible to compare Holbein’s truth of likeness to the original in the case of the statue of the Duke, for in that of the Duchess the head was broken off during the French Revolution, and was replaced by another some forty years later, lacking all expression, and with a royal crown instead of the ducal diadem. These two studies, however, cannot have been made during Holbein’s visit to Southern France in 1524; the draughtsmanship of them points to a later period, when his art had reached its greatest pitch of perfection. The position of Bourges, too, in the very centre of France, was far distant from the route he would take to reach Montpellier. Nor can they be connected with his first journey to England in 1526, for on that occasion he passed through Antwerp, his direct route being down the Rhine; and he made use, no doubt, of the same waterway on his return to Basel in 1528. In all probability the visit to Bourges took place in 1538. In the late summer of that year Holbein went with Philip Hoby to Joinville and Nancy on Henry VIII’s business,[404] and took the opportunity of paying a visit of a few weeks’ duration to his family and old friends in Basel. On his return to England he is supposed to have taken his eldest son with him as far as Paris, where he apprenticed him to the goldsmith Jakob David, and from Switzerland Bourges would be on the route to the capital of France.[405] VOL. I., PLATE 57. [Illustration: