Hans Holbein the Younger, Volume 1 (of 2)Chamberlain, Arthur B. (Arthur Bensley)
History
Hans Holbein the Younger, Volume 1 (of 2)
Chamberlain, Arthur B. (Arthur Bensley)
Holbein, Hans, 1497-1543 -- Criticism and interpretation; Painters -- Germany -- Biography
There is an old legend in Lucerne that at this period the elder Holbein
was living in the town with his two sons, but it does not appear to have
any foundation in fact.[133] There is much more probability that
Ambrosius accompanied Hans, or followed him shortly afterwards, and
remained for some time at work with his brother on the Hertenstein
house; though here again there is no actual record of such an absence
from Basel. There is, however, a fine drawing by him in the Basel
Gallery (No. 297), a half-length figure of a young man of the Von
Rüdiswiler family,[134] which is thought to afford some proof that
Ambrosius was in Lucerne at the time, for the Rüdiswiler family was one
of the most important in the district, their chief seat being at
Rüdiswil. Members of this house were settled both in Lucerne and
Solothurn, and it is supposed that Ambrosius drew the portrait of this
youth of patrician birth in the former town during 1517. The sitter is
shown in profile, in a heavy brown cloak, wearing his cap on the side of
his head. His fair straight hair covers his ears, and he holds a large
red heart in his hand. The drawing has at some time been cut out round
the outline and mounted on parchment, and the inscription in secret
cipher, below the coat of arms, had been copied at the same time from
the one which existed on the original drawing before the cutting out
took place.
Ambrosius, however, must have been back again in Basel by the summer of
1518, for in that year, on June 6, he purchased his right of
citizenship. The first mention of him in the town books is on September
26, 1516, when “Ambrosy Holbein von augspurg, ein maler,” appeared in
court as a witness in a libel action brought by Bastian Lepzelter, the
sculptor, against a tailor, Andreas Huber, for insulting remarks made on
the previous 25th of July, when the plaintiff, Ambrosius, and another
friend, were enjoying themselves in the house of Hans Herbster.[135]
Ambrosius may perhaps have been working as a journeyman under Herbster
at the time. He joined the Painters’ Guild “zum Himmel,” to which
bakers, saddlers, and barber-surgeons also belonged, on St. Matthias’
Day, February 24, 1517. The entry in the book of the guild runs as
follows: “Item es hatt entpfangen die zunfft vff sant Mattistag ambross
Holbein maler von augspurg In dem xvii Jor.” According to an order of
the Basel Council issued in 1487, any one entering a guild was obliged
to take oath to purchase the freedom of the city within a month. This
Ambrosius did not do until the following year, which possibly indicates
that he left the town shortly after joining the guild, early in 1517,
without fulfilling his obligations. It may be that he had not sufficient
money for the payment of the fees, for when, on June 6, 1518, he became
a burgher, he was only able to find one gulden out of the four which
were required, Jörg Schweiger, the goldsmith, whose portrait, now in the
Basel Gallery (No.
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