PREPARED BY THE EDITORIAL STAFF OF THE MENTOR ASSOCIATION ILLUSTRATION FOR THE MENTOR, VOL. 1, No. 48, SERIAL No. 48 COPYRIGHT, 1914, BY THE MENTOR ASSOCIATION, INC. [Illustration: QUEEN JANE SEYMOUR--HOLBEIN] _DÜRER AND HOLBEIN_ _Last Days_ SIX Holbein arrived in London toward the end of 1526. It is said that the English called him, colloquially, “Master Haunce.” He went immediately to Chelsea, where Sir Thomas More lived. Erasmus had given him a letter of introduction to this famous statesman and author, and the artist was made welcome, and given many commissions for portraits. Holbein remained at Chelsea throughout his first visit to England. Sir Thomas More introduced him to many of the greatest men of the day. At this time England was just beginning to feel the first influence of the Renaissance. London was still a dirty, noisy town of the Middle Ages. The houses were made of wood and mud, and built with the earth as a flooring. The streets were narrow and crowded, with the houses and little shops set close together. From the highest to the lowest, London was far from being the center of fashion it was to become not many years later. Consequently, when the dreaded plague broke out in 1528, London was just the kind of city in which it would spread most rapidly. So Holbein gave up his work in England and returned to Basel. There he finished the decorations for the town hall, which had been begun in 1521. But he was not happy there. All his friends were either dead or had left the city. So about 1531 he returned to London. This time he needed no introduction. His reputation was established in England. The merchants of the Steelyard, the great German trading company established on the banks of the Thames, gave him plenty of work to do, and he did it well. These portraits contain some of Holbein’s most careful work. In 1537 he painted the great portrait of Henry VII with Elizabeth of York, and Henry VIII with Jane Seymour, for the privy chamber of the Palace of Westminster. This picture was destroyed in the fire that burned the palace in 1698. In 1543 the plague broke out again in England. A will, presumably made in October, 1543, by Holbein, was found in London some years ago. And not long after making this, in November, the great artist died, probably of the plague. His death was surrounded by mystery. Not even the place of his burial is known for certain. It was either in the church of Saint Andrew Undershaft or Saint Catharine Cree. His death, in the prime of his active life, was a great loss to the world; but his work survives, and will live forever. PREPARED BY THE EDITORIAL STAFF OF THE MENTOR ASSOCIATION ILLUSTRATION FOR THE MENTOR, VOL. 1, No. 48, SERIAL No. 48 COPYRIGHT, 1914, BY THE MENTOR ASSOCIATION, INC. End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Mentor: Two Early German Painters, Vol. 1, Num. 48, Serial No. 48, by Frank Jewett Mather