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
Several portraits by Holbein, which so far have not been traced, were
etched by Hollar when they were in the Arundel Collection, and these
prints, in the absence of the originals, form invaluable records for the
use of students. Some few of them, however, though Hollar has placed
Holbein’s name on them, cannot have been painted by him, as, for
instance, the portrait of Thomas Chaloner,[467] which is dated 1548. All
the more important of them are reproduced by Dr. Ganz in his _Holbein_
(1912),[468] and several have been already described in these pages.
Among those remaining there is one of an unknown bearded man in a black
cap,[469] and two of unnamed boys.[470] The second of these boys, whose
head is turned three-quarters to the left, appears, from the details of
the dress he is wearing, to be a Swiss. Holbein’s original silver-point
study for the portrait from which the etching was taken is in the
Louvre, and is dated 1520. The connection between the two was first
pointed out by Dr. Ganz.[471] The circular portrait of Sir Anthony Denny
is inscribed “ANNO 1541 ÆTATIS SVÆ 29.”[472] The original painting, a
small roundel, descended, according to Mr. W. Barclay Squire, to the
Howards of Greystoke Castle, and is now in the collection of Mr. J.
Pierpont Morgan, junr. There is an old copy of it at Longford
Castle.[473] The large print of an elderly, grey-bearded man, with fur
coat, and cap with a feather,[474] is usually said to represent Charles
Brandon, Duke of Suffolk, but though it bears considerable likeness to
the authentic portraits of him, the attribution is doubtful. There are
several portraits of English ladies among Hollar’s work. Of one, in
which the sitter is turned to the right, and is wearing a round
head-dress surmounted by a flat black cap with a large feather,[475]
there is no study known, but for two others, which Hollar has reproduced
as small roundels, the preliminary drawings are to be found in the
Windsor Collection, one of them of an unknown lady, full-face, wearing
the angular head-dress,[476] and the other the drawing inscribed “The
Lady Mary after Queen.”[477] The profile portrait of a lady, which has
been considered by some writers to represent Anne of Cleves,[478] does
not appear to be after an original by Holbein, though Hollar has placed
his name on it. It is possible, though not very probable, that some of
these circular etchings were based on the drawings, and not on finished
pictures.
Footnote 467:
Parthey, 1371.
Footnote 468:
pp. 196-200.
Footnote 469:
Parthey, 1544.
Footnote 470:
Parthey, 1551 and 1543.
Footnote 471:
See _Holbein_, p. 250. The drawing reproduced by Ganz, _Hdz. von H. H.
dem Jüng._, Pl. 9; and by Mantz, p. 34.
Footnote 472:
Parthey, 1387.
Footnote 473:
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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