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
The figures of the women are
gracefully conceived and grouped, and the heads of the men have
character and expression. In its general arrangement the upper half of
this miniature drawing recalls the “Rehoboam” wall-painting in the Basel
Town Hall, though the setting is more richly treated; while in the
general gracefulness of its design it is Italian in feeling, and has
close affinity to the “Triumph of Riches” drawing for the decoration of
the Steelyard. It was probably done at about the same date as the
latter, perhaps as a present for the King, the subject having been
chosen as conveying a subtle and flattering suggestion that Henry and
Solomon were alike in their possession of great wisdom. It is finished
with such minute care that it does not seem likely that it is merely the
preparatory sketch for some larger picture or wall-painting. There is no
record of any wall-decoration of this subject, either in the Steelyard
or at Whitehall, though Holbein may have had some idea when at work upon
it that it might serve for such a purpose afterwards if it met with the
King’s approval; or, on the other hand, it may be a miniature copy from
one of his frescoes in grisaille, which has disappeared, made by Holbein
himself as a gift for his royal master. It was at one time in the
Arundel Collection, and while there was engraved by Hollar. In the
inventory of that collection it is entered as “Regina de Saba in
miniatura chiaroscuro.” There is a picture in the Dresden Gallery
representing the “Death of Virginia,” which appears to be an early copy
of another of Holbein’s lost frescoes in grisaille, which has many
points in common with the “Queen of Sheba” miniature painting, and is
carried out in a similar scheme of colouring. Both were, no doubt, the
work of his second English residence.[609]
Footnote 608:
Woltmann, 272. Reproduced in Ganz, _Hdz. von H. H. dem Jüng._, Pl. 32,
and in _Holbein_, p. 182; Knackfuss, fig. 145.
Footnote 609:
See Woltmann, ii. p. 124. Reproduced by Ganz, _Holbein_, p. 174.
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