Evening star., 1928-11-18
BY LEILA MECHLIN.

~ P exceptional interest is the col
lection of original engravingS
by Bartolozzi after portrait
~ drawings by FIolbein now OH
view in the Dunthorne Gal
lery, 1925 Connecticut avenue. of which
announcement was made last week IN
these columns.
OF all the great portrait painters, Hol-
bein is perhaps today the most infiuen-
tial. The simplicity of his work. the
refinement and beauty of his drawing
fall in with the modern movement-the
modernists' desire for Simplitication
and direct expresSion-and it is to the
ideals Of Holbein that some of the lead
ing noderniSts are reverttng.
Hans Holbein was born in Augsburg,
probably in the year 1897. the son of a
painter In 1914, when their home was
broken up, he and his brother AmbroS
obtained employment in one OF the
great printing houses of Basic, for which
they drew designs and title pages, Illus
trationS to be used in books, etc. 1t was
there at Basic that he became acquaint-
ed with Erasmus, and it was through
Erasmus that he met Sir Thomas More,
who later persuaded him to go to Eng
land. Some of his biogTaphers claimed
that he lived for three years in Sir
Thomas More's home, at Chelsea. In
1928 he was back at BaSie, but in 1881
he returned to England. A commission
to paint Cromwell brought him to the
attention of Henry VIII, and by 1885 he
was fully established as one OF the
Kings painters. Twice he was sent
abroad to paint portraits Of fair ladies
whom Henry VIII had under consider
alton as brides. His death occurred in
l543, probably of the plague which raw
aged London at that time.
The drawings in the Windsor collec-
ton which BartoloZzi reproduced were
undoubtedly made as studies for paint
ed portaitS but whether the portraits
were all painted or not is not known.
The history of the collection of draw
fngS, which for the most part were on
f1esh-colored paper in crayon and col
ored chalk. is eVentful and interesting.
Some authorities believe that they were
found in Holbein's painting room at
Whitehall after his death and thus
came into the possession of the crown.
But there is no definite record of them
until the latter part of the sixteenth
century, when they appear in an in
ventory as follows: "A create booke of
Pictures doone by Haunce Holbyn of
certyne Lordes, Ladyes, gentlemen and
gentlewomen in King Henry the 8: his
TYNE, their names subscribed by Sr.
John Cheke, Secretary to King Edward
the s, wch. booke was King Edward
the 6th's."
At the death of Edward VI. it seems,
this, book Of drawings came into the
possession of FitZ-Alan. Ear of Arundel,
either by gift or purchase. and was
preserved at "NonSuch." and at his
death in 1882 passed to his son-in-law,
Lord Lumley, at whose death in 1909
the book may have gone to Henry,
Primes of Wales, older brother of
Charles I. At any rate, Charles I is
known to have exchanged this collec-
ton, bound in a single volume, with the
Earl Of Pembroke for the beautiful little
picture of "St. George Staying the ORA
gon," by Raphael. which for many years
has been treasured in the Hermitage
Gallery at PetrograG. The Earl of
Pembroke passed them on almost i'm
mediately to Thomas Howard, Earl of
Arundel, who collected Holbeins with
asSiduous enthusiasm. and may pos
Sibly have added to the original group
single drawings by the same masters
hand which had become scattered
through private ownership At all
events, when the book was purchased
from the Duke Of Norfolk, son of the
Earl of Pembroke, by James II in 1885
it contained its present fun complement
of drawings-82-a considerably larger
number than was supposed to have
been in the original group.
Strangely enough, during the reign
Of James II the book was lost and for
gotten, but it was rediscovered early in
the reign of George II by Queen Caro-
line, who was apparently acquisitive,
and found it in an old bureau in Ken
sington Palace, where it had been laid
away with a volume CT drawings by