Hans Holbein, the younger

Jeanne Nuechterlein (University of York)

Ed. by Gerhard P. Knapp, University of Utah
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.4.1: German-language Writing and Culture: Germany, 500-present.
Vol. editors: Gerhard P. Knapp (University of Utah), Jennifer Marston William (Purdue University), Herbert Rowland (Purdue University), Jill E. Twark (East Carolina University)

Dates

Born c. 1497
Died 1543
Activity 1513-1543

Places

Born in Germany
Active in England; Switzerland; France

Activities

Primary

Painter

Resources

Holbein's Works

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Hans Holbein the Younger was one of the most accomplished and widely-traveled artists of northern Europe in the first half of the sixteenth century, whose work engaged closely with the cultural changes brought about by the Renaissance and the Protestant Reformation. He was born in Augsburg, worked for many years in the prosperous Swiss city of Basel, traveled in France and possibly Italy, and finally became a portraitist and court artist for Henry VIII in England. He produced some of the most memorable and influential artistic works of the era, including portraits of Erasmus and Henry VIII, the paintings

Dead Christ in the Tomb

and

The Ambassadors

, and two major print cycles, the

Dance of Death

and illustrations of the Old Testament known as the

Icones

Holbein was born into an artistic

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3413 words

Citation: Nuechterlein, Jeanne. "Hans Holbein, the younger". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 21 October 2009 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=2171, accessed 23 April 2024.]

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