1G4 
HOLBEIN IN GERMANY. 
[Nature and Art, November 1, 1866. 
at Augsburg, died on the 2nd February, 1510 : 
this gives us some further indication of the date of 
the earlier drawings. 
In 1512 two folding-doors of an altar-screen for 
St. Catherine's convent were painted inside and 
out, thus presenting four detached subjects ; on the 
inner side were the Martyrdom of St. Catherine, 
and the legend of St. Ulrich, the patron saints of 
the convent and of the city ; on the outer side were 
the Crucifixion of St. Peter, and the Virgin sitting 
beside her mother St. Anne, with the child standing 
on the bench between them. The four subjects are 
now separated, and placed in the Augsburg gallery. 
The backgrounds are green ; the rims are orna- 
mented with golden Renaissance-work, dolphins, 
horned masks, and winged children sporting among 
plants, or blowing into flower trumpets. They bear 
the date, and the name of Hans Ilolb., but tradition 
has added to this name the designation of the elder. 
Tradition was flatly contradicted by Dr. Waagen in 
1845 ( Kunstwerke . . . in Deutschland, vol. ii. p. 24). 
He laid stress upon the fine modelling, especially 
of the hands, upon the leather-brown llesh-tones, 
upon the figured draperies, and upon the Italian 
character of the arabesques. Since this opinion 
was given, the work has been cleaned, and upon 
an open book on the knees of St. Anne another 
inscription has come to light. Dr. Woltmann 
confesses that he generally distrusts such dis- 
coveries ; but here, he says, the old-fashioned letters 
look so very genuine, and they are broken by the 
sun-cracks so very naturally ; in short, the temp- 
tation is too much for him. The inscription runs 
thus : — “ Jussu. Vener. Pientque Matkis Veroni 
. . . W . . . E . . . H. Holbain, Aug. ietsujB 
xvii.” — that, is, “ by order of the most venerable 
and pious mother, Veronica Welser, Hans Holbein 
of Augsburg, in the year of his age 17.” 
We sincerely trust that the above inscription 
may be proved legitimate, and may not be finally 
affiliated upon a cleaner. But, in any case, the 
paintings were executed under the eye of the elder 
Holbein, and partly designed by him. There are 
two sketches by him existing at Basle, for the subject 
of St. Catherine ; in the one she is praying against 
the torture of the wheel, and the thunderbolt is 
descending to shatter it ; in the other she is sub- 
mitting to the sword-stroke. The two situations 
are combined in the painting ; the wheel is still in 
flames, and the executioners are crouching still, all 
but one, who stands erect, and keeps hold of his 
prey. As to the details, the following are the 
principal variations : — The attitudes of the terrified 
men in the first sketch are strained and angular. 
One of them, who is raising his elbow as if to 
guard his head, is a complete caricature. He 
reminds Dr. Woltmann of the apostles in the 
Transfiguration, above the votive tablet of Ulrich 
Walther, executed by the elder Holbein. In the 
painting, on the other hand, there is a young man, 
screening his eyes with both his hands, whose 
figure is freely adapted from the sketch, but the 
caricature is gone. The saint herself, as she appears 
in the painting, kneeling with folded hands, yet a 
king’s daughter to the last, is a highly refined copy 
of the second sketch. She is clothed in a rich red 
mantle and a jewelled hood. The chief headsman 
is entirely changed. The sketch makes but a poor, 
unsteady figure of him : he lifts up the sword 
with both hands ; and altogether he resembles the 
executioner of St. Dorothea, in the Basilica of Sta. 
Maria Maggiore. The painting makes him a 
stalwart man-at-arms ; he grasps tjie holy princess 
by the neck with his left hand, his sword-arm hangs 
down, and he is waiting for the signal of death. 
Thus, if we may safely follow Dr. Woltmann, at 
the age of seventeen (the same age that marked 
the development of Raphael), young Holbein had 
already begun to outstrip his father in truth and 
beauty of historical design. In matters of decorative 
art he had entirely deserted him, and his new taste 
may not improbably have been formed in the studio 
of his presumed maternal uncle, Hans Burgkmair, 
who had returned from an Italian excursion in 
1508. The Renaissance ornamentation is considered 
almost sufficient of itself to decide any rival claims 
of father and son, in favour of the latter. 
One (perhaps the finest) compartment of the 
altar-screen contains, as we have said, the Virgin 
and child with St. Anne. The Virgin’s mother 
was now receiving high honours, in consequence of 
the lately enforced doctrine of the Immaculate 
Conception ; and this group, known as S. Anna 
selb dritt (St. Anne and the other two), had become 
a general favourite. But young Holbein’s treat- 
ment of it was new. The two holy women, says 
Dr. Woltmann, are teaching the child to walk ; 
and he dwells upon the scene with delight. But 
we have only time to note that the head of the 
Virgin is almost repeated in another picture, the 
Madonna with the May-lilies. This is a half-figure, 
scarcely half life-size, standing behind a balustrade. 
In front of her lies a gold-embroidered cushion, 
upon which she supports the child Avith her right 
hand ; and in her left she holds a peach, tempting 
him to stretch out his arm for it. The child’s body 
is rather too meagre, and his face too old. But the 
Virgin’s head is full of maiden grace and motherly 
fondness. She has the same features and expression 
as in S. Anna selb dritt ; and her fair locks Aoav in 
the same waves from underneath a jewelled head- 
band. On the balustrade beside her stands her 
symbol, the vase of May-lilies. The background 
is brown, with simple ornaments in the new style ; 
above are two winged genii on a frieze, which is 
supported on each side by plain pilasters. One of 
these pilasters is inscribed “ Johannes Holbain in 
Augusta bingewat,” the last word being good South 
German for inngebat; and the other— “ Carpet 
aliquis cicius quam imitabitur” (people will carp 
sooner than imitate). A similar architectural 
framework incloses the earliest painted portrait by 
the younger Holbein. But on the balustrade lies 
a piece of red tapestry, and the background is open 
to the blue sky. It seems to be taken from a man 
of importance. He is ruddy, with long florid hair 
and short curly beard ; and in a fur cap and robe. 
He shows the right hand, but no arm, — an ungrace- 
