Painters in the Reign of Henry VI 11. 103 



©f his birth have been contefted ; yet it is 

 certain that the fornner happened in 1498, 

 and the latter moft probably was Bafil. His 

 father was a painter of Aufburg, and fo 

 much efteemed, that the Lord of Walberg 

 paid an hundred florins to the monaftery 

 of St. Catherine for a large pi<5lure of the 

 falutation painted by him. He executed 

 too in half figures the life of St. Paul, on 

 which he wrote this infcription, " This 

 ' work was compleated by J. Holbein, a ci- 

 tizen of Aufburg, 1499." John Holbein, 

 the elder, had a brother called Sigifmond, 

 a painter too. Hans, fo early as 1 5 1 2, drew 

 the pidtures of both, which came into the 

 pofTefTion of Sandrart, who has engraved 

 them in his book, and which, if not ex- 

 tremely improved by the engraver, are in- 

 deed admirable performances for a boy of 

 fourteen. 



I have faid that in the regifter's ofRce of 

 Wells there is mention of a Holbein who 

 died here in the reign of Henry VII . Had 

 it been the father, it would probably have 

 been mentioned by fome of the biogra- 

 phers of the fon j but I find it no where 

 hinted that the father was ever in Eng^ 

 G 4 land, 



