Hans Holbein the Younger

Hans Holbein the Younger (c. 1497–1543) created portraits of such precision that art historian Ellis Waterhouse called them "unsurpassed for sureness and economy of statement." Born in Augsburg to a family of painters, he trained under his father, Hans Holbein the Elder, before moving to Basel, Switzerland, around 1515. There he painted murals, designed stained glass and book illustrations, and made his international reputation with portraits of the humanist scholar Erasmus.

Iconoclastic riots in Basel froze the arts by 1526. Carrying a letter of introduction from Erasmus, Holbein traveled to England, where Thomas More welcomed him into London's humanist circle. He returned to Basel for four years, then went back to England in 1532 under the patronage of Anne Boleyn and Thomas Cromwell. By 1535, he was King's Painter to Henry VIII. He created portraits of the king, several of his queens, and leading courtiers that remain our primary visual record of the Tudor court.

Holbein's most famous works include The Ambassadors (1533), featuring a mysterious distorted skull, and his imposing full-length portrait of Henry VIII. He was also known for his woodcut series Dance of Death. His style belongs to the Northern Renaissance, combining German precision with Italian compositional ideas absorbed during trips to northern Italy and France. Holbein died in London in 1543, probably of plague, aged about forty-five. His works hang at the National Gallery in London, the Kunstmuseum Basel, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art.