Hans Holbein the Younger, Volume 2 (of 2)Chamberlain, Arthur B. (Arthur Bensley)
History
Hans Holbein the Younger, Volume 2 (of 2)
Chamberlain, Arthur B. (Arthur Bensley)
Holbein, Hans, 1497-1543 -- Criticism and interpretation; Painters -- Germany -- Biography
Only three dated works of the year 1541 remain; the two fine portraits
of men in the Berlin and Vienna Galleries, and the miniature of Charles
Brandon, the younger son of the Duke of Suffolk. The Berlin panel,[430]
(No. 586 C), is inscribed at the top, in gold, on either side of the
cap, “ANNO 1541,” and lower down, in smaller letters, level with the
sitter’s ears: “ETATIS : SVÆ : 37.” The coat of arms, enamelled in red
and white, on the gold ring on his left hand, indicates that in all
probability this young man was a member of the Dutch family of Vos van
Steenwijk, though the writer has failed to trace the name, or any
indication of a sojourn in or visit to England on the part of its
bearer, in the Calendars of the English State Papers. It is a
half-length portrait, considerably less than life-size, head and body
turned to the right, but both eyes shown. The eyes are grey, and the
finely painted beard and moustache are a reddish brown. In his clasped
hands he holds a pair of brown gloves. He wears a black silk under-dress
and a surcoat of black or very dark brown, with the collar turned over
to show the lining of black watered silk, and his flat cap of the same
colour has a turned-down brim. He is gazing to the spectator’s right
with a far-away and slightly melancholy look in his eyes, which are
wonderfully painted, as is the beautiful and expressive left hand. It
comes from the Von Sybel, Elberfeld, Merlo of Cologne, and Suermondt
collections, having been purchased from the last-named owner in 1874.
Footnote 430:
Woltmann, 117. Reproduced by Knackfuss, fig. 134; Ganz, _Holbein_, p.
128.
[Illustration:
VOL. II., PLATE 27
PORTRAIT OF AN UNKNOWN YOUNG MAN
1541
IMPERIAL GALLERY, VIENNA
]
[Sidenote: PORTRAIT OF A MAN WITH A FALCON.]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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