Portrait of the Artist's Family (Holbein)

Portrait of the Artist's Family is a portrait of the family of the painter Hans Holbein the Younger by the artist himself. It depicts Holbeins wife Elsbeth Binzenstock and their son Philipp and their daughter Katharina. Holbein painted it during his stay in Basel to where he returned from England It shall have been painted between 1528 and 1529[1] on paper and glued on wood.[2]

Portrait of the Artist's Family
Portrait of the Artist's Family
ArtistHans Holbein the Younger
Year1528–1529
SubjectArtist's Family
Dimensions77 cm × 64 cm (30 in × 25 in)
LocationKunstmuseum Basel, Basel

Description

Elsbeth is seated on a bench with her daughter placed on her lap while resting her hand on her sons right shoulder.[1] On the bench the numbers 152(…) are to be seen in the lower right in the painting.[1] The last number has been cut off the painting as well as the fingertips of the lefthand from the girl.[1] It is painted on three horizontally glued paper stripes.[1] Two of them much broader than the third one on the left.[1] The boys body and face are depicted in profile, the mother is painted from the front. While the mother doesn't seem to have gaze directed at something specific, the boy is looking at something to the upper right.[3] The right hand of the mother seems to be incomplete.[4] The girl faces left and seems to grasp something with her left hand which was probably on the piece cut away to the right.[5] I

Reception

The fact that Holbeins wife wears a dark blue cloth with a rosa scarf, similar to what wears the Virgin Mary in Holbeins Solothurn Madonna, has brought art historian Andreas Beyer to the assumption that the painting might be a depiction of Holbeins own "Holy Family".[6] The family is shown in modest clothing which is in stark contrast to the riches Hans Holbein shall have brought to Basel from England.[7]

Influences

It is either assumed that the painting was larger and the third piece of paper on the right included an other figure. Either a depiction of Hans Holbein[8] or a woman which resembled the Lais of Corinth.[9] A drawing of the mother and the two children and a woman resembling Lais of Corinth is to be seen in the Albertina in Vienna.[10] The portrait also seemed to have influenced the works of Hans Asper, who in a portrait of a woman in 1538 has transformed the two children in a cat and a dog.[11] Besides, there is a copy of the painting in the Museum in Lille.[4]

Ownership

The painting was for several years in possession of Elsbeth Binzenstock, the wife of Holbein.[7] By 1443 the portrait was in possession of Hans Asper, a portrait painter from Zurich.[12] Asper received several offers for the painting, also from Basilius Amerbach, but refused to sell it. Only after Aspers death, the portrait came into possession of Amerbach for six crowns through the intermediation[4] of the pharmacist Georg Clauser from Zurich.[1] The portrait was described in the inventory of the Amerbach Cabinet in 1586,[2] which was bought by the city of Basel in 1661.[13] Today the painting is exhibited in the Kunstmuseum Basel.

References
  1. Müller, Christian (2006). Hans Holbein the Younger: The Basel Years, 1515-1532. Prestel. p. 403. ISBN 978-3-7913-3580-3.CS1 maint: date and year (link)
  2. Stein, Wilhelm (1929). p.172
  3. Stein, Wilhelm (1929). pp.168–169
  4. Die Malerfamilie Holbein in Basel. Kunstmuseum Basel. 1960. pp. 210–211.
  5. Stein, Wilhelm (1929). p.169
  6. Beyer, Andreas (2002). Das Porträt in der Malerei (in German). Hirmer Publishers. p. 133. ISBN 3-7774-9490-9.
  7. Beyer, Andreas (2002), p.135
  8. Müller, Christian (2006) p.404
  9. Stein, Wilhelm (1929). 172–173
  10. Stein, Wilhelm (1929). p.173
  11. Stein, Wilhelm (1929). p.178
  12. Stein, Wilhelm (1929). Holbein der Jüngere. Berlin: Julius Bard Verlag. pp. 176–178.
  13. Merian, Wilhelm (1917). Basler Zeitschrift für Geschichte und Altertumskunde. p. 154.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.