Nature and Art, November 1, 1866.] 
HOLBEIN IN GERMANY. 
163 
of a series of six, commissioned by St. Catherine’s 
Convent at Augsburg, representing the Basilicas of 
Home, and the legends of their patron saints : it is 
inscribed “Hans Holbain, 1499.” At the foot of the 
picture appears this monogram, jj-'jj , on a grave- 
stone. The discoverers of the grandfather have 
printed an extract from the Convent Annals ascrib- 
ing this work to “ the old Hans Holbein a phrase 
which could hardly apply to the father, whilst young 
Hans was in his babyhood. But Dr. Woltmann 
proves that they have depended entirely on a 
modern transcript, and that the Annals themselves 
say nothing of the sort. Finally, Hans Burgkmair’s 
father began a list of all the Augsburg artists whom 
he could remember since 1460 ; this was continued 
down to 1548, and it contains only one “ Hanns 
Holbain,” namely, Holbein the father ; for his son 
never painted at Augsburg as a master. We now 
take leave of the grandfather, who was actually (it 
appears) named Michel. His two supposititious 
works may be transferred to Hans Holbein the 
father. The second, viz. the Basilica, is in three 
compartments ; one of these contains the story of 
St. Doi'othea, how, after yielding her head to the 
axe, she converted her persecutor by sending him 
an angel with roses of Paradise.* Her executioner 
is a figure which we shall presently have to contrast 
with another in the Martyrdom of St. Catherine. 
We must linger still, for an instant, among the 
undoubted works of the elder Holbein. St. Cathe- 
rine’s convent, now the royal picture-gallery of 
Augsburg, was, in his day, a nursery of high art. 
When it was rebuilt in 1496, its prioress was 
Anna Walther ; her sister Maria was there as a 
simple nun ; and their father, IJlrich, commissioned 
the elder Holbein to paint a votive tablet for the 
whole family : this was accordingly completed in 
1502. In the upper division is the Transfiguration : 
the Christ is fine ; but the gestures of the three 
bewildered apostles, especially those of Peter, are 
almost ludicrous. The lower division is much 
more remarkable. It represents IJlrich Walther, 
with a portion of his household — a portion only, 
for when he died (three years later, at the age of 
eighty-six), he left 133 living descendants. He is 
here kneeling on the left side, with four pairs of 
his sons and grandsons behind him ; on the other 
side kneel the prioress and her mother (the former 
taking the place of honour), and behind them are 
four pairs of his daughters and granddaughters, and 
one pair of maid-servants. They are all praying, 
not merely with clasped hands and bended knees, 
but with earnest faces ; yet their differences of age 
and character are individually marked. The young 
women and children are graceful ami natural. The 
artist of such a work, concludes Dr. Woltmann, was 
worthy of being the father and teacher of Germany’s 
greatest portrait-painter. In religious subjects the 
elder Holbein had hitherto shown himself a follower, 
. * See Massinger’s Virgin Martyr, Act v. Sc. 1. See also 
Mr. Swinburne’s St. Dorothy, a lovely poem, half-spoilt by 
an unsaintly kiss. 
if not even a pupil, of Martin Schongauer, though 
more or less influenced by the Blemish masters. He 
now (or not very long after) made a great stride 
foi’ward. He painted another of the Basilicas , — 
that of St. Paul, filling the three compartments 
with scenes of the Saint’s conversion, and martyr- 
dom, and canonization. The figures, many of them 
portraits, are very numerous. The bodies and feet 
are still drawn too meagre ; but in other respects, 
especially in dramatic force, and in the modelling 
of the hands, the advance is striking ; so much so, 
indeed, that some critics (among others Dr. Waagen) 
imagine that the elder Holbein must have been 
assisted by his son. On the other hand, there is 
an old tradition that three figures are taken from 
the painter himself and two of his sons ; and in 
one of these, a chubby boy of seven or eight, Dr. 
Woltmann recognizes the features of our hero. He 
has presented us with an outline of these figures ; 
and we cannot help believing, with him, that there 
is truth for once in pictorial tradition. The father 
brought up his three sons, Ambrosius, Bruno, and 
Hans, to his own profession ; and a little sketch- 
book of his, preserved at Basle, shows who it was 
who taught young Hans to use the silver point. 
It would be interesting to compare the drawings of 
father and son. We are not enabled to do so for 
ourselves ; from the text, however, we gather that 
those of the former are characterized by lightness, 
but indecision of touch ; whilst his pupil soon 
equalled him in delicacy, and surpassed him in 
vigour. 
We are now led back to our photo-lithograph ; 
we wish that it did not stand alone. Dr. Woltmann 
has given us five more leaves out of young Holbein’s 
sketch-books, but only in the shape of coarse wood- 
cuts, which convey no notion of the original hand- 
ling. Still, the heads are full of character. First 
comes the uncle, Sigmund Holbein, about forty 
years old, every inch a German artist ; earnest and 
thoughtful, with strongly-marked features, bushy 
beard, and long hair fantastically dishevelled. Next 
is a droll, high-shouldered little fellow, trying to look 
fierce, yet no less than a councillor of the Empire, 
Kunz von der Bosen : we are not surprised to find 
that he proved himself alternately worthy of the 
coat of mail and the motley. The third is the 
stiff-necked, long-nosed, clean-shaven Jakob Fugger, 
who helped to found a countship on a silk, wool, and 
grocery business : his portrait, as a younger man, 
forms No. 4 of “Imagines Fuggerorum et Fug- 
gerarum,” published at Augsburg in 1618. The 
fourth and fifth are rivals in ugliness ; a fat, self- 
satisfied abbot, and a gaunt good creature of a 
monk : the latter is an absolute scarecrow • but he 
evidently would not harm a fly. These heads will 
some day be photo-lithographed, no doubt, together 
with many more ; and then we can sit down in the 
circle of young Holbein’s friends, as he sketched 
them (often, perhaps, unawares) ; or look out with 
him at a few of the notables of Augsburg, headed 
by the Emperor Max, now somewhat bowed with 
years. Before leaving them, we must mention that 
one of them, Conrad Morlin, Abbot of St. Ulrich 
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