page_title: Hans Holbein the Younger
section_title: Basel, 1528–1532
hierarchical_section_title: Hans Holbein the Younger / Biography / Basel, 1528–1532
caption_attribution_description: English: The artist's family. Oil and tempera on paper, subsequently cut out and mounted on wood, 76.8 × 64 cm. Kunstmuseum Basel. The portrait was most probably painted shortly after Holbein's return to Basel from England in 1528. Based on an entry in the Amerbach inventory of 1587, it is believed to show his wife, Elsbeth (born Binzenstock, and previously wife of the deceased tanner Ulrich Schmid), whom he had married in 1519. Also in the picture are his two eldest children, Philipp, born around 1522, and Katherina, born around 1526. Holbein's two youngest children, Jakob and Küngold, were born around 1529 and 1530. Originally the figures were painted on paper. Subsequently, they were cut out round the outlines and stuck to a dark panel. Part of the fringes of the picture were lost in the cutting, including the full date (bottom right corner). Scholars have called this work, which was influenced by the religious iconography of the madonna, one of the most personal of Holbein's portraits. (References: Buck, pp. 75–76; John Rowlands, Holbein: The Paintings of Hans Holbein the Younger, Boston: David R. Godine, 1985, ISBN&#160;0879235780, p. 31; Christian Müller; Stephan Kemperdick; Maryan W. Ainsworth; et al,. Hans Holbein the Younger: The Basel Years, 1515–1532, Munich: Prestel, 2006, ISBN&#160;3791335804, pp. 403–405.)
context_page_description: Hans Holbein the Younger was a German painter and printmaker who worked in a Northern Renaissance style, and is considered one of the greatest portraitists of the 16th century. He also produced religious art, satire, and Reformation propaganda, and he made a significant contribution to the history of book design. He is called "the Younger" to distinguish him from his father Hans Holbein the Elder, an accomplished painter of the Late Gothic school.
  Holbein was born in Augsburg, but he worked mainly in Basel as a young artist. At first, he painted murals and religious works, designed stained glass windows, and printed books. He also painted an occasional portrait, making his international mark with portraits of humanist Desiderius Erasmus of Rotterdam. When the Reformation reached Basel, Holbein worked for reformist clients while continuing to serve traditional religious patrons. His Late Gothic style was enriched by artistic trends in Italy, France, and the Netherlands, as well as by Renaissance humanism. The result was a combined aesthetic uniquely his own.
  Holbein travelled to England in 1526 in search of work, with a recommendation from Erasmus.
context_section_description: On 29 August 1528, Holbein bought a house in Basel, in St Johanns-Vorstadt. He presumably returned home to preserve his citizenship, since he had been granted only a two-year leave of absence. Enriched by his success in England, Holbein bought a second house in the city in 1531.
  During this period in Basel, he painted The Artist's Family, showing Elsbeth, with the couple's two eldest children, Philipp and Katherina, evoking images of the Virgin and Child with St John the Baptist. Art historian John Rowlands sees this work as "one of the most moving portraits in art, from an artist, too, who always characterized his sitters with a guarded restraint".
  Basel had become a turbulent city in Holbein's absence. Reformers, swayed by the ideas of Zwingli, carried out acts of iconoclasm and banned imagery in churches. In April 1529, the free-thinking Erasmus felt obliged to leave his former haven for Freiburg im Breisgau. The iconoclasts probably destroyed some of Holbein's religious artwork, but details are unknown. Evidence for Holbein's religious views is fragmentary and inconclusive. "The religious side of his paintings had always been ambiguous," suggests art historian John North, "and so it remained". According to a register compiled to ensure that all major citizens subscribed to the new doctrines: "Master Hans Holbein, the painter, says that we must be better informed about the [holy] table before approaching it". In 1530, the authorities called Holbein to account for failing to attend the reformed communion. Shortly afterwards, however, he was listed among those "who have no serious objections and wish to go along with other Christians".
  Holbein evidently retained favour under the new order. The reformist council paid him a retaining fee of 50 florins and commissioned him to resume work on the Council Chamber frescoes. They now chose themes from the Old Testament instead of the previous stories from classical history and allegory. Holbein's frescoes of Rehoboam and of the meeting between Saul and Samuel were more simply designed than their predecessors. Holbein worked for traditional clients at the same time. His old patron Jakob Meyer paid him to add figures and details to the family altarpiece he had painted in 1526. Holbein's last commission in this period was the decoration of two clock faces on the city gate in 1531. The reduced levels of patronage in Basel may have prompted his decision to return to England early in 1532.
caption: The Artist's Family, c. 1528. Oil and tempera on paper, cut out and mounted on wood. Kunstmuseum Basel.
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