The King's Painter

Lately I've been reading a new biography of Hans Holbein (1497-1543), The King's Painter:The Life of Hans Holbein, by Franny Moyle. Just published, it is the first biography I've read of the great master, although I've admired his work for decades. For me, and I suspect for many, Hans Holbein the Younger (his father was an artist too) was born in Augsburg, Germany but spent the majority of his working life in Basel, Switzerland. Even so, it is mostly his works from England that attract attention. The justly famous Portrait of Sir Thomas More, the great English lawyer, scholar, humanist and statesman is a perfect example. It is now in the Frick Collection in New York.Scatt

Hans Holbein the Younger, "Sir Thomas More," oil on panel, 1527

Sir Thomas More was a staunch supporter of the Catholic Church against the Protestant Reformation. Although he met favor with Henry VIII, the English king, he was forced to retire after Holbein painted him. Henry made himself head of the English church, removed power from the Pope and therefore allowed himself to marry Anne Boleyn.

"The Ambassadors," oil on wood, 1533

In any event, the new biography is a thorough one, though the author seems to digress a bit too often for me. My copy is an electronic one, with illustrations at the end. One needs to refer back and forth in order to completely comprehend the author's descriptions of particular paintings, of which there are many. That complaint aside, the book is well written for a general audience, rather than a limited one of connoisseurship. In particular, the author explores Holbein's penchant for allusion and perspective in his work, none less striking than The Ambassadors, his portrait of two French men who had come to England on diplomatic missions. The most striking feature of the work is the anamorphic skull in the foreground, which can only be understood as a skull from an extreme angle. 

Ms. Moyle has written an engaging and interesting biography of Hans Holbein that nearly anyone who enjoys art would find entertaining.