Hans Holbein the Elder

Hans Holbein the Elder ( * um 1465 in Augsburg, † 1524 in Basel or Isenheim ) was a German painter of the Renaissance. He was the senior of a famous family of painters, which included his brother Sigmund and his sons, Ambrosius and Hans Holbein the Younger belonged.

Life

About his youth and his training almost nothing is known. He learned the craft of painting in Augsburg and the Upper Rhine, emigrated to Cologne, possibly also in the Netherlands. To 1493, he settled in Augsburg; there he kept his primary residence until 1514/17 ( records of 1493 and 1499 mention him, however, as citizens of Ulm ). Orders took him to Ulm, Frankfurt am Main and in the Alsace. 1517 he left Augsburg for his dysfunctional financial circumstances (his brother Sigmund let him repeatedly pledge ) and settled in Isenheim in Alsace. In 1524 he is believed to have died there.

From Emperor Maximilian, he should have received a charter of freedom, which could explain the fact that since 1514 there were no tax payments from him. Probably dates from this time the coat of arms with ox head of the Holbein family.

Work

Hans Holbein the Elder. stood at the end of late Gothic style, his work marked the transition to the Renaissance Painting in Germany. His education in the Upper Rhine reflects the influence of Martin Schongauer (perhaps by way of its stitches), from the knowledge of the works by Rogier van der Weyden you unlocked a stay in the Netherlands. Whether Holbein the art Matthias Grünewald's already met in 1500 in Frankfurt am Main ( or only in Alsace ), is unclear. His work includes altarpieces and devotional paintings, portraiture and glass paintings. The sketchbooks obtained have it a formidable draftsman.

, Of St. Afra Altar and the Grey Passion (1494 - 1500) - the Weingartner altar ( now in Augsburg Cathedral in 1493 ) come from his first creative period of about 1490-1497. In Ulm in 1493, he worked together with the sculptor Michael Erhart and so exercised a certain influence on the Ulm School of.

At the beginning of a second phase of his work ( to about 1509 ) stands the basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore ( 1499 ), first image of the Basilica cycle for the Augsburger Dominican Sisters. This was followed by the Frankfurt Dominican Altarpiece (c. 1500 - together with his brother Sigmund and with Leonhard Beck), the Altar Wing from the monastery Kaisheim and the Basilica San Paolo fuori le mura ( 1504 - Holbein's second image for the Augsburg Basilica cycle). This period is characterized by dramatic, coupled with a clear, luminous color effect vividness and conciseness of expression. This is particularly evident in the portrait of Ulrich Schwarz and his family ( around 1503 ).

In the last section of his work include the Altar Wing from Sainte- Odile in the High Castle in Alsace. They are marked by the influence of the Italian Renaissance: Holbein worked here with Lombard width, with vines and putti. ( Was a long time in important parts attributed to the son Hans Holbein the Younger ) Furthermore, here are the Sebastian altar of 1516 and the Fountain of Life ( 1519, in Lisbon ) to call. This is the last we know of Holbein's picture and one of the most important pictures of the Madonna of German painting.

During his lifetime, Holbein was widely praised; but as he - unlike the little younger Albrecht Dürer - the innovations of the Renaissance less drove forward rather than observing accompanied, he remained soon only the audience his home in memory. However, he was of the utmost importance for the development of his famous son; whose early portrait of the Basel Mayor Meyer of 1516 is really a consequence of the Vienna Men's portrait of the father of 1513 ( as W. Pinder ).

Others

1974 was issued to commemorate the 450th anniversary of his death a stamp by the German Federal Post Office. After Holbein and his son streets and squares are named in several cities, including the Holbein place in Basel, Holbein road at Frankfurt's Städel and the Holbeinsteg, a Main Bridge. He is also the namesake of several schools, including the Holbein Gymnasium in Augsburg.

Works (selection)

• Lindauer Passion, Lindau (Bodensee), St. Peter's, only got Fresco (1480 )
• Weingartener altar, Augsburg, High Cathedral of Our Lady ( 1493 )
• Grey passion, State Gallery of Stuttgart ( 1494-1500 )
• Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore, Augsburg, State Gallery Old German Champion ( 1499 )
• Epitaph of the sisters cousin, Augsburg, State Gallery Old German Champion ( 1499 )
• Altar of the Dominican church in Frankfurt am Main (1500-1501)
• Epitaph of the Sisters Walter, Augsburg, State Gallery Old German Champion (1502 )
• Designs for stained glass windows: Cathedral of Eichstätt ( 1502), St. Ulrich in Augsburg, St. Jakob in Straubing
• High altar of the Cistercian monastery of Kaisheim (1502-1504)
• Basilica of San Paolo fuori le mura, Augsburg, State Gallery Old German Champion ( 1504)
• Sebastian altar, Munich, Alte Pinakothek ( 1516)

His work St. Catherine since it was stolen from the Museum Schloss peace stone in the art theft of Gotha in 1979, is considered lost.