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
Woltmann describes a second title-page, very finely cut, which he
considers to have been produced during Holbein’s sojourn in England. So
far it has not been discovered in any published book, but there is a
fine proof of it in the Munich Print Room. On either side stand St.
Peter and St. Paul, the latter pointing upwards, two tall slender
figures. They appear as pillars of the church, and are represented as
supporting the blank title itself, which is in the form of a paper
scroll. In an arch above is Christ risen from the Tomb, trampling upon
Death and Satan, and below are the arms of Henry VIII supported by two
heraldic beasts.[163]
Footnote 163:
Woltmann, 238.
Something of the same satirical feeling shown in the lost drawings of
the Passion is to be seen in two or three small woodcuts of this
period, which, from the inferiority of the cutting, were very probably
produced in England. Two of them appeared among the twenty-six little
cuts in _Cranmer’s Catechism_, a small octavo volume published in
1548, the full title being, “Catechismus, that is to say, a shorte
instruction into Christian religion for the singular commoditie and
profyte of childrē and yong people. Set forth by the mooste reverende
father in God, Thomas Archbyshop of Canterbury, primate of all
Englande and Metropolitane.—Gualterus Lynne excudebat, 1548.” The
first of Holbein’s two small pictures (folio CL) represents the
parable of the Pharisee and the Publican,[164] the scene taking place
in a church, with the Pharisee as a monk, kneeling at an altar, whom
Christ points out to His disciples, while the Publican stands with
head bent in front of them. On the edge of a book on the altar steps
are the initials “H. H.” The subject of the second cut (folio CCI) is
Christ casting out the Devil from the possessed man,[165] which, in
spite of the unsatisfactory cutting, is very dramatic and retains much
of the beauty and individuality of Holbein’s design. The Pharisees and
others who stand behind are represented as bishops, monks and priests.
It is signed in full “HANS HOLBEN.” A third woodcut, very similar to
these, but still more feeble in execution, represents Christ as the
Good Shepherd,[166] surrounded by His disciples, and pointing to the
“hired servant,” here again dressed as a monk, who is flying before
the wolf which scatters his frightened flock. This also is signed in
full “HANS HOLBEIN.” It appears in a small English pamphlet, “A lytle
treatise after the manner of an Epystle, wryten by the famous clerk
Doctor Vrbanus Regius,” which was also published by Walter Lynne, in
the same year, 1548, as the Catechism.
Footnote 164:
Woltmann, 198. Reproduced by Chatto, p. 380; and in _Hans Holbein_
(Great Engravers Series), ed. A. M. Hind.
Footnote 165:
Woltmann, 199. Reproduced by Woltmann, i. p. 391; Chatto, p. 381;
Wornum, p. 191; and in _Hans Holbein_ (Great Engravers Series), ed. A.
M. Hind.
Footnote 166:
Woltmann, 200. Reproduced by Woltmann, i. p. 399.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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