kri»« BRITISH ART REFERENC - Xuci !j-«1>' s;^-'-' '¦^^• .^- " V^' - ^ fa; V r ! T v^ .?V Yale Center for British Art and British Studies APRIL, 1900 HOLBEIH THE YOUNGER PRICE, 15 CENTS 1 tralEiiiliQtiqtgi^aiitSi Jg^uedfl^onftlu, HOLBEIN THE YOUNGER Bstes-ai^uiitKIotnpaniL "¦ •'^''"*'- -- m. $f r Sloane |HE interior decorative scheme of any house, from a small country cottage to the handsomely ap pointed city residence, lies in the treatment of its walls and the correctness and taste of its draperies and floor-coverings. In our departinent devoted to this important feature of household decoration we offer our patrons a selection of the most exquisite, and in many instances exclusive, drapery fab rics, including the Lappet Curtainings in brilliant French effects, Linen Taffetas, Cretonne Hangings with embroidered Galatea edges, embroidered Nettings in the latest colorings, and solid colored Galateas tastefully embroidered. In fact, everything from the daintiest, gauzy, summer Draperies to the richest Damasks, Brocatelles, Plushes, Velours, etc. We are prepared to furnish from our extensive Wall Paper stock patterns to harmonize with the draperies, both in de sign and color tones, and to take, entire charge of the interior decoration of artistic houses. We invite correspondence, and are ready at any time to submit schemes or sketches in connection with the work. Broadu)dy and i9tb Street new Vork ssam MASTERS IN ART A SERIES OF ILLUSTRATED MONOGRAPHS: ISSUED MONTHLY PART 4 APRIL, 1900 VOLUME I oli}tin t!)t WonnQtx CONTENTS Plate I. "The Meyer Madonna" Plate II. " Holbein's Wife and Children " Plate III. "Portrait of Georg Gyze" Plate IV. "Portrait of Christina, Duchess of Milan" Plate V. "Portrait of a Man with His Child" Plate VI. " Portrait of Erasmus " Plate VII. " Portrait of Jane Seymour " Plate VIII, " Portrait of the Duke of Norfolk " Plate IX. "Portrait of Hubert Morett" Plate X. "Portrait of Robert Cheseman " Grand-Ducal Palace: Darmstadt Basle Museum Berlin Gallery National Gallery: London Stadel Institute: Frankfort Louvre: Paris Imperial Gallery: Vienna Royal Gallery: Windsor Royal Gallery: Dresden Gallery of the Hague Portrait of Holbein, by Himself: Basle Museum The Life of Holbein Extracts from Robinson, Woltmann The Art of Holbein Criticisms by Mantz, Lijeke, Woltmann, Crowe, Leighton, Rousseau The German School of Painting Extract from Van Dyke The Works of Holbein: Descriptions of the Plates and a List of Paintings Holbein Bibliography Page 20 Page 21 Page »3 Page 30 Page 31 Page 35 PUBLISHERS' ANNOUNCEMENTS SUBSCRIPTIONS : Subscription price, ^1.50 a year, in advance, postpaid to any address in the United States or Canada. To foreign countries in the Postal Union, j^2.oo ; single copies, 15 cents. 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MASTERS IN AR oltt tie gounger GERMAN SCHOO MASTEKS JN ART. PLATE I. HOIiBEUS" THE MEXER MADOIfXA GEAIfD-DTJCAL PALACE, DARMSTADT MASTEK.S TN AET. PLATE H. HOLBElJf HOLBEIN-'S l\-rFE AND CHILDEEST BASLE MUSEUM MASTEES IN AET. PLATE HI. HOLBEIH" POHTEAIT OF GEOEG GXZE BEELrSr GALLEEX MASTERS IN ART. PLATE TV. HOLBEOf POHTEAIT OF CHEISTUSTA, DUCHESS OF MILAIf NATIONAL GALLEEX, LONDON MASTEES IN AET. PLATE V. HOLBEIN POHTEAIT OF A MAN WITH HIS CHILD STADEL INSTITUTE, FE \ NTCFOET MASTEES IN AET. PLATE VI. HOLBEIN POHTEAIT OF EHASMUS LOUVHE, PAEIS MASTEHS IN AET. PLATE VII. IIOLUEIN POHTEAIT OF JANE SEXMOUE IMPERIAL liALLKHX, VIENNA MASTEES IN AET. PLATE VIII. HOLBEIN POETEAIT OF THE DUKE OF NOHFOLK EOXAL GALLEEX, WINDSOE MASTERS IX ART. PLATE IX. HOLHKIX PORTRAIT Of lIUJiERT MORETT ROXAL O.M.LMliV. DHK.SliKX #:-Mi R.OBER'IA/^S CHE.SF-MAN ANNO DM i: 1ATE.S..SV7L XLVlIt M D XXXIII =•- '¦•'A /"*£». .-%'. MASTERS IN AET. PLATE X. HOLBEIN POETEAIT OF EOBEET CHESEMAN GALLEEX OF THE HAGUE ^;r-'-"'7''"'^^^'lF°'*' y^ PORTRAIT OE HOLHKI.V BX HIMSFLF This portrait of Holbein, from a colored drawing now in the Basle Museum, was taken by himself when about twenty-five years of age. The expression denotes, in a remarkable degree, keen observation and quiet reserve power. He wears a red hat and a grey coat with a black velvet border. MASTERS IN ART iian$ iioliiein tije Uonn^tt BORN 1497 : DIED 1543 GERMAN SCHOOL F.M.ROBINSON "MAGAZINEOFART," VOL.9 IN the year 1497, when the Great Maximilian was Emperor of the West, Hans Holbein the younger was born in the imperial city of Augsburg, wherein his father, his uncle, his mother's father, and, indeed, most of the family, were in business as paint ers and decorators. Those were the great days of Augsburg; the city, on the direct route to Italy, was the richest commercial town of South Germany, and it was also the frequent halting-place of Maximilian, his court, and his armies. Its intercourse with Italy, too, had great influence in the development of artistic ideas; and though one or two mediasval buildings heighten the contrast, Augsburg is essentially a city of the Re naissance. . . . The elder Hans Holbein took both his boys — Ambrosius and Hans -. — into his studio, and the three worked together until the year 1 5 16. The work was for the most part done in common, but a book of sketches by the younger Hans, pre served in the Berlin Museum, shows us that he was already a better draughtsman than his father. In the year 1 5 1 5 Ambrosius and Hans Holbein went to Basle — at that time a cen tre of learning and enlightenment. It was its boast that every house contained at least one learned man; and the great Amerbach press, which had then been founded for twenty years, must have been an immense attraction to men of letters. John Amerbach had recently died, and business was carried on by his still more famous partner, John Froben. Froben and a forgotten schoolmaster were Holbein's first patrons, and the well-known printer's mark that adorns so many of the Froben press bfioks was designed by him on his arrival in Basle. He also found another powerfiil patron in Jacob Meyer, the first commoner who ever held office as Burgomaster of Basle, and under whose rule the reformation of the city laws was peaceably carried out. But the local magnate, powerfiil in his time and city, is remembered chiefly as the original of Holbein's first portrait painted in Basle, and as the art patron for whom the Meyer Madonna was painted eight or nine years later. With two such influential patrons as Froben and Meyer, Holbein's position must have been assured; but in 1517 he left the city and spent two years in travel. At Lucerne and Altorf he left traces of his passing, but no where else do we follow him. It is said, on doubtful authority, that he never set foot in Italy; but the astonishing development of his powers suggests that he must, by a sight of some of the masterpieces of Italian art, have had a new ideal suggested to him at about this time. In I 5 1 9 Ambrosius Holbein died, and we know that in this year Hans returned and settled in Basle, for his portrait of Bonifacius Amerbach, son of Amerbach the 22 a^aisfterjefinart printer, bears this date. The next year, i 5 20, so important in history as the year of Luther's excommunication, of Raphael's death, and of the meeting of the Field of the Cloth of Gold, was also an important year in Holbein's life. In it he became a citizen of Basle, and a member of the Painters' Guild; and in it Erasmus, after an absence of six years, returned to Basle, and returned as a resident. The learned Dutchman, the first man of letters since the old days of Rome, had accepted the post of editor and pub lisher's reader to his friend, John Froben, in whose house he was to make his home. . . . Between Holbein and Erasmus some sort of friendship quickly sprang up, a friendship founded rather on mutual admiration than the intimate interchange of ideas; for Erasmus spoke no modern language except his native Dutch, and by the inscriptions on his portraits Holbein betrays an ignorance of the Latin language, and a capacity for phonetic spelling, tempered by German pronunciation, that are truly astonishing. But despite this ignorance of Latin, Holbein did undoubtedly enjoy some measure of ind- macy with Erasmus, and the sketches with which he illustrated the latter's " Praise of Folly " prove that by some means he managed to get at the meaning of Latin books. The tendency of the Reformation was unfavorable to art, and but for the patronage of Meyer, Holbein would have received no important commission in Basle. Easel pic- tees of this period are rare, and Holbein seems chiefly to have been employed in de signing for stained glass, decorating furniture, and illustrating books. The impressive, terribly realistic «'Dead Christ," painted in 1521, and now in the Basle Museum, was probably not a commission, but painted merely as a study. Never again did he depict death with such solemn dignity. . . . The whole point of the ' ' Dance of Death ' ' [a series of small wood-cuts designed by Holbein] is in the malicious pleasure with which Death beholds the consternation of his victims: pope, emperor, preacher, nun, are aUke unready for his coming; rich and poor, young and old, make the same desperate, vain resistance. The "Dance of Death," like the Bible illustrations, are undated; but the drawings must have been made some time before 1527, for in that year Hans Liitzelberger, their engraver, died, leaving his work unfinished, and for more than ten years the publication was delayed, it being impossible to find a wood-engraver competent to render the action and the expression of the tiny faces. The dramatic feel ing, the raciness, the grim humor and abundant fancy of these little masterpieces, as well as the extreme care of their composition and drawing, prove that Holbein must have thrown himself heart and soul into their composition. But book-illustrating was poorly-paid work, and as time went on, Holbein found the difficulty of living increase. He had, moreover, added to his cares by marriage with a widow, Elsbeth Schmidt, a woman some years older than himself. There may be some truth in the legend that Holbein was driven by his wife's tongue from Basle, but the real reason of his leaving was probably that mentioned by Erasmus to More, the want of money. So, bearing this one letter of introduction from Froben' s editor to Sir Thomas More, Speaker of the English House of Commons, Holbein went forth one summer morning of 1526 to seek his fortune in a strange land. . . . "Master Haunce, " as we find Holbein colloquially called in England, arrived in London towards the close of i 526. The influence of the Renaissance, which had al ready left its mark on public buildings and monuments, had not extended to houses of ordinary size, which were still built chiefly of wood and mud, and set close together in very narrow streets; the rooms were usually small and dark, and the flooring of the lower story was commonly merely the beaten earth on which the house was built. Each tradesman hung out a swinging sign above his shop, and besides shops many booths and stalls were placed in the crowded streets. Carriages were happily extremely rare; those who did not ride went on foot, but even so the streets were intensely thronged. ^an0 ^oltitin 23 From the highest to the lowest all London jostled and hustled in the narrow ways noisy with screaming cries of the hawkers and keepers of booths and stalls. . . . On his arrival Holbein passed through the noisy city till he reached the green river side country at Chelsea, where Sir Thomas More lived. Here he was welcomed for the sake of Erasmus, and here he remained throughout his first visit to England. Here too he met Archbishop Warham, Nicholas Kratzer, and Fisher, who was destined to become More's fellow-martyr. ' These and many others gave him sittings, and he also made drawings and studies of More and his household — studies intended to be used for the great group of the More family — a picture which however remained forever un finished. In the summer of i 528 that dreaded malady, the Plague, broke out in England, and for fear of infection, or else by order of his guild, our painter returned to Basle, where he finished the decorations for the town hall [begun in i 5 2 1 , and now no longer in existence] . But Basle was the Basle of his youth no longer. Froben was dead, Eras mus, Meyer, and the majority of the cultured class had abandoned the city to the zeal of the Reformers. Holbein could not adapt himself to the new order of things, and in the autumn of i 53 I we find him once more in London. Three years had brought great changes to England. The breach between Pope and King was daily widening, and a few months after Holbein's returh, the resignation of More from the Lord Chancel lorship brought an end to the painter's hopes of court patronage. In the meantime he was working for the German merchants of the Steelyard, and had settled himself in the parish of St. Andrew Undershaft, which was his home for the remainder of his Ufe. . . . It is about 1537 that we find the first evidence of Holbein's official connection with the Court, and in this year he painted the great portrait of Henry VII. with Elizabeth of York, and Henry VIII. with Jane Seymour, for the Privy Chamber of the Palace of Westminster. The original perished in the fire which destroyed the Palace in 1698, but the composition of it is familiar to us through the small copy at Hampton Court and the large cartoon of a portion of it which is in the possession of the Duke of Devon shire. [According to the best authorities there is no oil painting of Henry VIII. by Hol bein in existence.] Hans Holbein's death, like his birth and life, is enveloped in mystery. All that we know is that in the year i 543 the Plague again attacked London, that on the seventh of October he made his will, and that on the twenty-ninth of November he was already numbered with the dead. And so, without a sign, with no word to note the day or manner of his death, or the place of his burial, the great painter, whose work is so well and whose character so little knovvn, passes silently from the pages of history. ALFRED WOLTMANN "HOLBEIN UND SEINE ZEIT" DURING the whole of the Middle Ages, princes and great lords were accus tomed to have their painter, who stood in permanent connection with the court, belonged to their household, and had his position among the lowest members of it, being named in one and the same breath with stable-boys, scullions, and apothecaries. By degrees the position of the artist rose; for with the rise of his art, his personal import ance also increased in the eyes of his master, and the painter not unfrequently entered into more intimate relations with his prince, and in order to give a fitting expression to such a relation, he was frequently invested with the rank and title of a "variet de chambre," an honor which he shared with poets, musicians, and often with the court jesters. This was a great advance compared with former experiences, although the artist was still obliged to conduct himself right modestly towards the whole suite of spiritual, knightly, and political servants of the court. Such was the position of a Jan Van Eyck 24 ^ a^ttt 0 in ^tt at the court of Burgundy; such also the position of the painters at the Northern courts in the sixteenth century, of the three Clouets in the service of the French monarch, and equally so of Holbein at the English court, who bore the official title: "Servant to the King's Majesty." And what had he to do in this position.? In this respect the advance made above the Middle Ages was far less than that with regard to rank. The painter was and remained no more and no less than a factotum for everything that could be done with the brush. In state apartments, and in sleeping-rooms, in house and hall, in stable and kitchen, he had to arrange, to decorate, and to paint, sometimes one thing, and sometimes another, the furniture and the household matters, the coats-of-arms, and the shields, the pennons and flags of the ships, the saddles of the horses, and even the cakes that came to table. The talent and skill of painters, their imagination as well as their execution, were in demand for the scenery of festivities, for passing decorations, for exhibitions and pageants. The court painters were expected to obey all the whims and fancies of their master, trifles occupied their time, and they were obliged to expend their genius and their powers on a thousand unimportant and perishable things. One branch of artistic activity had, however, been developed since the beginning of the fifteenth century, which gave the court painter true satisfaction, and afforded him opportunity after all his trivial occupations to gather together his powers and to work as an artist, and not as an artisan; namely, portraiture. This branch of art grew more and more in favor at courts; it became a pastime, a fashion, and a matter of luxury. Portraits appeared in all conceivable forms, in various styles, and of various sizes, sometimes as a head or a half-length figure, sometimes the whole figure, painted in oil on wooden panels of different forms, or in miniature on cards, or in frescos on the wall. They appeared in life-size, and even on a colossal scale, but still more frequently in a smaller form. In this case they formed portable objects, which could easily be taken from place to place by their possessors. This role of artistic factotum Holbein was enabled to play under somewhat alleviated circumstances. Henry VIII. had a number of other painters in his service, to whom the coarsest work was usually assigned. The business of house-painter and decorator belonged to the appointed sergeant-painter at that time, the Englishman Andrew Wright. Freed from care of the most ordinary requirements of the court painter Holbein could devote himself to portrait painting. If his time was ever claimed for other matters, it was not the executing hand which was demanded from him, but his inventive mind, which was consulted in the various works of art-industry. These two kinds of artistic produc tion to the exclusion of all others fully occupied Holbein at the English court. Holbein certainly did not torment the people whom he painted with many repeated sittings. He depicted them, even in the sketch, with wonderful fidelity and complete ness, so that this seems to have been afterwards sufficient for the painting. In numer ous sheets we see short observations written in the painter's hand, relating in general to the color of the dress or of the beard and hair. Those in the Windsor Sketches, which belong to the earlier years, are in general grander in effect, and those belonging to his later residence in England are on the contrary more delicate and fine in their execution. At first he usually drew upon untinted paper, but subsequently he gave a reddish col oring to the whole sheet, which corresponded to the flesh tint of the countenance. — FROM THE GERMAN. ^ang ^txlhtin 25 %fjt 9lrt of Holtiem PAUL MANTZ "HANS HOLBEIN" WE have been taught to see in Holbein only an eminent portrait painter, but although he has undoubtedly deserved this title, his talents were less restricted, his ambi tions higher. Like the Italians of the glorious age, he would have enjoyed creating vast spectacular scenes to adorn the walls of palaces and churches. Although never a literary or a learned man, he had nevertheless a taste for beautiful allegories, and was inclined to introduce a poetic or dramatic element into his compositions. He tried it indeed more than once. But of all the great scenes which Holbein undertook to depict, not one has come down to us. History would be unjustly indifferent, however, if it recorded only what survives; all that has ever lived should be held sacred, and Holbein's lost works must not be forgotten. From the drawings for them which have been preserved, it may easily be seen that he was not merely a portrait painter. His works which have been destroyed by fire can be approximately reconstructed, and we feel sure that in his deco rative paintings there was an enthusiastic feeling for complicated and stirring scenes, a confident and vigorous touch, in short a sympathy for the art of the past in which the primitive qualities — introduced both consciously and unconsciously — remind one of Mantegna. The resemblance is of course very incomplete. ... A figure somewhat shortened, a drapery with massive folds, betray here and there that Holbein was of Ger man origin. But these occasional effects, which it would be surprising not to meet with in aii artist of Augsburg, should not change one's estimate of the general character of his drawing, and of his thought. To the traditions of his country, more and more forgotten in Basle and in London, Holbein was happily unfaithftil. His ideal is very mixeii. Although his Italianism shows itself at times, yet to be just it must be acknowledged that the decora tor of the Town Hall and of the Steelyard takes true satisfaction in his own German realism. It would, however, be a mistake to expect to find in Holbein a man who was in any way bewildered by the ideal. He was usually calm, his flights of fancy were not of long duration, and his mind never lingered among dreams. He lived in the world of realities very willingly, and even when inclined to soar into the realm of fiction, was continually brought back to every-day fact by the study of the faces of his contemporaries — by portraiture. If the exact portrayal of the human countenance does not include the whole of Hol- bein's talent, it constitutes at least an essential part of his genius and of his work. Here the master has been indefatigable, fiill of will and decision. It has been remarked that in most of Holbein's portraits there is a certain air of sadness. The world in which the artist lived was, as we know, absorbed in serious affairs. The early years of the six teenth century were strangely troubled ones; the bitterness of religious controversies tormented honest consciences, and a somewhat sad gravity might well be accorded to the men who participated and suffered in these spiritual battles. And Holbein was true to his principle; he did not give a moral character to his models, from any preconceived idea. Even if exercised discreedy this would have been a devia tion from the truth, and Holbein did not lie. He was as exact in representing the expres sion of the inner man as in depicting his features. ... He had no wish to transform his models into heroes. We know, thanks to him, the "make-up ' ' of their natural refine ment or their ugliness, and he has told us, as plainly as is possible with the brush, what was transpiring in their minds. This is why Holbein is above all an historian. But his portraits are not merely notes to be made use of by the chroniclers, they are suberb paint- 26 iai^aiSteriefin^rt ings, 'which forcibly impress us with their strength and their character. The faithful historian was at the same time a powerfiil artist, whose manual skill is incomparable. In order to construct a figure and give it life, he draws with a vigor equalling that of the most learned masters, and for skilfial and delicate modelling of flesh it seems as if Leonardo da Vinci himself had imparted to him the secret. — from the French. WILHELM LUBKE "HISTORY OF ART" HOLBEIN is not only one of the most precocious geniuses in the history of art, appearing as an excellent painter in his eighteenth year, but he also belongs to the few painters of the North who were imbued with the qualities of the Italian school, and at the same time developed them in an independent manner. He is the sole Northern painter of that day, not even excepting Diirer, who attained to a free, magnificent style, broke away from the wretchedly depraved taste of his contemporaries, and portrayed the human form in all its truth and beauty. In many respects he may be compared to the great Peter Vischer, who in the same way burst the narrow bounds of the art of his fatherland, without sacrificing the strength, depth, and freshness of the genuine German artist. ALFRED WOLTMANN "HOLBEIN UND SEINE ZEIT" IN depicting each separate personage, Holbein took the point of view which each required in himself^ and gave to each all that belonged to him, so that in looking at his portraits we think only of the individual represented, and can entirely forget the artist who has brought him before us. This important quality of the portrait painter, that of placing his own subjectivity b- ordinate to the object represented, has belonged to but few artists in a like degree. Albrecht Diirer, however much he strives in portraiture to retain the smallest details, allows his own nature to appear just as distinctly as the character of the person represented. . . . Leonardo da Vinci, whose portraits in many ways show affinity with those of Holbein, as far as regards their delicate perfection of execution and their acuteness of individuali zation, is really only at ease in portraiture when he has to represent female characters of a certain kind, whose secret inner life he traces tenderly and profoundly, seeking to read it as an enigma. Titian, again, can scarcely depict any but noble natures. Though master of every means to make his figures appear round and lifelike, yet truth in depicting the natural appearance is never his real aim. He does not represent the man himself, but borrows from him only the idea of a free poetic figure of the heroic style, who seems by the magic of colors to be transported into a higher existence. So, also, the great portrait painter of the following century. Van Dyck, whom we are most inclined to compare with Holbein, because he labored on the same soil, is the painter entirely of the aristocratic circles, and is in himself aristocratic in his conception. Holbein depicts men as they are. Van Dyck as they behave. Even in those who have felt most deeply the storms of life. Van Dyck subdues gloominess and care into slight and inter esting melancholy. When Holbein depicts a man, he thinks of nothing else but him — he isolates him, he places him before us in unbiased objective truth. Van Dyck, on the contrary, cannot forbear thinking, not merely of the subject of his painting, but also of the spectator, whom he seeks to interest and to fill with sympathy. In this he only does what the people themselves were wont to do, so soon as they appeared before the world. Had Holbein's contemporaries, however, deemed this necessary, his eye would never theless have keenly penetrated the veil. Though laden with ornament and arraved in festive garments, Holbein had seen them at their work, in the midst of all the cares and perplexities of active every-day life. In these men the whole seriousness of their age is l^anjSfoIIieitt 27 stamped — of that grand and agitated epoch in which contests were fought which had been prepared for centuries, and in which the soil was created for the deeds of succeed ing ages. In closer relation to Holbein than Van Dyck stands Velasquez, who shares his capacity for exact and absolute truthfulness to life. Yet there seems to be nothing more different than the delicate and careful execution of the paintings of the German master and the breadth and boldness of the Spaniard. But that Holbein was capable of this also, when it seemed to him suitable, is shown by his sketches and cursory outlines, and is exhibited in a work such as the cartoon in the possession of the Duke of Devonshire, or in Holbein's family picture at Basle. If we look, however, for one among his own contemporaries who shows the most afiinity with him in portraiture, we can turn to no other than Raphael. He too combines the utmost individual distinctness with the most delicate taste, and in his picture of Leo X., reaches that perfection so especially admired in Holbein, a perfection exhibited in the faithfiil execution of subordinate things, of the prayer-book with miniatures, of the bell on the table, of the mirror on the back of the chair, in which the whole scene is reflected, because all these accessories seemed to produce the tone of feeling suitable to the repre sentation of this personage. Realism, however, does not remain Holbein's ultimate and highest aim, and even his grand importance as a portrait painter, which formed for a long time his sole reputation, does not proceed from this alone. His eye was so organized that, like the old Dutch painters, he perceived all the details of nature with the utmost exactness. At the same time, however, he understood what they did not tmderstand — namely, to draw back a step, and to see that which he represented not only in detail, but also as a whole. Thus there is for him a higher truth than that which exists in the absolute delineation of various things; he recognizes the general laws which lie at their foundation, and he passes over the cleft which in Northern art generally speaking lies between the characteristic and the beautiful. J. A. CROWE "ENCYCLOP.ff:DI A BRITANNICA" HOLBEIN'S portraits all display that uncommon facility for seizing character which his father enjoyed before him, and which he had inherited in an expanded form. No amount of labor, no laboriousness of finish — and of both he was ever prodigal — betrayed him into loss of resemblance or expression. No painter was ever quicker at noting peculiarities of physiognomy, and it may be observed that in none of his faces, as indeed in none of the faces one sees in nature, are the two sides alike. Yet he was not a child of the sixteenth century, as the Venetians were, in substituting touch for line. We must not look in his works for modulations of surface or subtle contrasts of color in juxtaposition. His method was to the very last delicate, finished, and smooth, as became a painter of the old school. SIR FREDERICK LEIGHTON "ADDRESS, ROYAL ACADEMY," 1898 HARDLY less important than Nuremberg as a centre of wealth and commerce, or in its love of art, was the great Swabian city, Augsburg, the home of those princes among the merchants of this day, the Fuggers; and of the genius of the Swabian school, Hans Holbein the Younger is the noblest product and the supreme glory. I say the Swabian school; for although the name of Holbein is closely connected with Basle, where he long resided, he was born at Augsburg, in which town his father, himself an artist of great gifts, lived and worked. In Holbein we have a complete contrast to Diirer; a man not prone to theorize, not steeped in speculation, a dreamer of no dreams; without passion 28 ^a^ttt^ in ^tt but full of joyous fancies, he looked out with serene eyes upon the world around him; accepting Nature without preoccupation or afterthought, but with a keen sense of all her subtle beauties, loving her simply and for herself. As a draughtsman he displayed a flow, a fiilness of form, atad an almost classic restraint which are wanting in the work of Diirer, and are, indeed, not found elsewhere in German art. As a colorist, he had a keen sense of the values of tone relations, a sense in which Diirer again was lacking; 'not so Teutonic in every way as the Nuremberg master, he formed a link between the Italian and the German races. A less powerfiil personality than Diirer, he was a far superior painter. Proud may that country be indeed that counts two names so great in art. JEAN ROUSSEAU "HANS HOLBEIN" WHEN I think of Holbein, I picture to myself one of those giants of the North who led the Germanic races to the assault of the Latin world. Never has cham pion of art been armed like Holbein to challenge Italy in all directions and on every side. He rivals Leonardo in subtlety and depth of expression, as well as in the power of interpreting character and life in his portraits. With an originality which equals that of Veronese, he understands the art of enriching and aggrandizing his pictures by means of sumptuous architecture. Mantegna has become famous through his " Triumph of Cssar;" Holbein composed two similar friezes, allegorical in subject, the "Triumph of Riches ' ' and the " Triumph of Poverty. ' ' Raphael is the immortal painter of Ma donnas; Holbein painted but one — but that one is worthy to be compared with the " Madonna di San Sisto." With Titian alone Holbein cannot compete in richness of coloring, and only by Benvenuto Cellini is he surpassed in his marvellous designs for jewelry, and curious devices for the carving of sword-hilts and dagger-sheaths, cups, vases, etc. Germany has never produced another genius so versatile as Holbein, and he is the more astonishing, coming as he does immediately after the German masters of the fifteenth century, so stiff and rigid, and so bound down by their Gothic limitations, that even Diirer could not entirely free himself from their traditions. — from the french. C|)e (ietman §)c{)ool of ^^atnting 1358 TO 1862 JOHN C. VAN DYKE "HISTORY OF PAINTING" THE Teutonic lands, like most of the countries of Europe, received their first art impulse from Christianity through Italy. The centre of the faith was at Rome, and from there the influence in art spread west and north; and in each land it was mod ified by local pecuHarities of type and temperament. In Germany, even in the early days, though Christianity was the theme of early illuminations, miniatures, and the like, and though there was a traditional form reaching back to Italy and Byzantium, yet un der it was the Teutonic type — the material, awkward, rather coarse Germanic point of view. The wish to realize native surroundings was apparent from the beginning. . . . In wall-painting a poor quality of work was executed in the churches as early as the ninth century, and probably eariier. Panel-painting seems to have come into existence before the thirteenth century, and was used for altar decorations. The panels were done in tempera, with figures in light colors upon gold grounds. The spirituality of the age, with a mingling of northern sentiment, appeared in the figure. This figure was at times i^aitjS i^oIBein 29 graceful, and agam awkward and archaic, according to the place of production, and the influence of either France or Italy. In the fourteenth century the influence of France began to show strongly in willowy figures, long flowing draperies, and sentimental poses. The artists along the Rhine showed this more than those in the provinces to the east, where a ruder if freer art ap peared. The best panel-painting of the time was done at Cologne, where we meet with the name of the first painter, Meister Wilhelm, and where a school was established usu ally known as the School of Cologne, which probably got its sentimental inclination, shown in slight forms and tender expression, from France, but derived much of its tech nique from the Netherlands. . . . German art, though begun in the fourteenth century, showed but littie depth or breadth until the fifteenth, and no real individual strength until the sixteenth century. It lagged behind the other countries of Europe, and produced the cramped archaic altar- piece. Then, when printing was invented, the painter-engraver came into existence. The two kinds of art — -painting and engraving — being produced by the one man led to much detailed line work with the brush. Engraving is an influence to be borne in mind in examining the painting of this period. The Franconian division of the German school had for its centre Nuremberg, and its most famous early master was Wohlgemuth ( 1 43 4—1 519). . . . There was in his work, chiefly altar-pieces, an advance in characterization, nobility of expression, and quiet dignity; and it was his good fortune to be the master of one of the most thoroughly original painters of all the German schools — Albrecht Diirer (i 471-15 28), who holds first rank in the German art of the Renaissance, not only on account of his technical ability, but also because of his imagination, sincerity, and striking originality. Diirer's influence was wide-spread throughout Germany, especially in engraving, of which he was a master. . . . The Swabian division of the German school includes a number of painters who were located at different places; for example at Colmar, Ulm, and Augsburg; and in the six teenth century there was a concentration of artistic force about this last named city, which toward the close of the preceding century, had come into competition with Nu remberg, and rather outranked it in splendor. It was at Augsburg that the Renaissance art in Germany showed in more restfiil composition, less angularity, better modelling and painting, and more sense of the ensemble of a picture. Hans Burckmair (1473— 1 5 3 1 ) was the founder of the so-called school of Augsburg, and next to him comes the celebrated Holbein family, of whom Hans Holbein the Younger holds with Diirer the high place in German art. . . . The two men were widely different in their points of view and in their work. Diirer was an idealist seeking after a type, a religious painter, a painter of panels with the spirit of an engraver. . . . Holbein was emphatically a realist, finding material in the actual life about him, a designer of cartoons and large wall-paintings in something of the Ital ian spirit, a man who painted religious themes with but little spiritual signification. In composition and drawing he appeared at times to be following Mantegna and the north ern Italians; in brush-work he resembled the Flemings, especially Massys; yet he was never an imitator of either Italian or Flemish painting. His wall-paintings have per ished, but the drawings from them are preserved, and show him as an artist of much invention. He is now known chiefly by his portraits. His facility in grasping physiog nomy and realizing character, the quiet dignity of his composition, his firm modelling, clear outiine, harmonious coloring, excellent detail, and easy solid painting, all place him in the front rank of great painters. Of the small Saxon division of the German school of painting Lucas Cranach the 30 Mater Color tables Pine top and oak frame, 24x36, $3.50. A full line of Artists' Materials, School and Draughtsmen's Supplies. 37 Cornhill, Boston, Mass. SECOND ^ EDITION PEN ^ DRAWING An Illustrated Treatise by CHAfiLES D. MAGINNIS A THOROUGHLY PRACTICAL TEXT-BOOK, TREATING OF STYLE, MATERIALS, TECHNIQUE, VALUES, AND ARCHITECTURAL AND DECORATIVE DRAWING, AIMING TO PUT THE DRAUGHTSMAN AND STUDENT OF ILLUSTRATION IN THE MOST DIRECT WAY OF ATTAINING TO SUCCESSFUL PRACTICE. ILLUSTRATED BY OVER SEVENTY DRAWINGS BY MASTERS OF THE ART, MANY OF THEM MADE EXPRESSLY FOR IT. CLOTH BINDING. SIZE, 5^x714;. POST-PAID, ^i.oo BATES ^ GUILD COMPANY 13 EXCHANGE STREET-s^-^^BOSTON MASTERS IN ART Scbool Of Drawing ana Painting MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS, BOSTON, MASS. Twenty-fourth year. Third term opens April 2, 1900. Free use of Museum galleries. Paige Foreign Scholarship for men and women. Helen Ham blen Scholarship. Ten Free Scholarships. Six prizes in money. For circulars and terms address Instructors. E. C. TARBELL, F. W. BENSON, PHILIP HALE, Drawing and Painting. B. L. PRATT, Modelling, Mrs. WM. STONE, Decorative Design. E. W. EMERSON, Anatomy. A. K. CROSS, Perspective. Miss ELIZABETH LOMBARD, Manager. SYRACUSE UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF FINE ARTS OFFERS COURSES IN PAINTING, MUSIC, AND ARCHITECTURE. IN PAINTING, A TRAVELING FELLOWSHIP WORTH Sscx. IS OFFERED EACH YEAR. INSTRUCTION • IN ¦ ALL • DEPARTMENTS BY DISTINGUISHED SPECIALISTS FROM OUR ¦ OWN COUNTRY • -AND ¦ EUROPE. DEAN ENSIGN McCHESNEY. PYROGRAPHY OR BURNT WOOD ETCHING The art of decorating wood, leather, or cardboard by burning the design into the article to be decorated A descriptive booklet, giving directions, description and price list of tools and materials, designs, etc., will be sent - free upon request THAYER & CHANDLER IMPORTERS AND DEALERS IN ART GOODS OF EVERY DESCRIPTION 144-146 Wabash Ave., Chicago, 111. MASTERPIECES OF ANCIENT ART -•) A new series of large reproductions of superior quality, taken directly from selected originals in the London, St. Petersburg, Madrid, Berlin, Cassel, and Dresden Galleries. lllusfrated list mailed upon receipt often cents in stamps, BERLIN PHOTOGRAPHIC CO., 14 East 23d Street, New York. Fourth Annual Session of THE CAPE COD School of Drawing and Painting Dewing "Woodward, Instructor. June 1st to October ist. For particulars write to L. L.JOHNSON, The Pungo, Provincetown, Cape Cod, Mass. j 1793 Bingham School MSHEVILLE, j I 1793 Bingham School M! ^^^B Established in 1793. 11 Maj. R. BINGHAM, IM IQQQ A.M., LKCSapt. m m 10 UO Military; U.S. Army HH ^^^g Officer detailed. | | I N. c. i ^l» ^ «>-^^l> ^^t< The Great Picture Light. FRINK'S PORTABLE PICTURE REFLECTORS Nos. 7034, 7035. Pat. Dec. 14, '97. For electric light, meet all requirements for lighting pictures. Every owner of line paintings could use one or more of these portable reflectors to advantage. The fact that so many have ordered these outfits for their friends is proof that their merits are appreciated. Height, closed, 51 inches ; ex tended, 81 inches. The light from the re flector can be directed at any picture in the room and at any angle. Frink's Portable Picture ReFlector with Telescope Standard. No. 7034, brass, polished or antique, with plug and socket for electric lamp, $27.50. No. 7035, black iron, with plug and socket for electric lamp $16.50 These special Reflectors are used by all the picture-dealers in New York, and by pri vate collectors not only in this country, but in Paris, London^ Berlin, and other cities. When ordering, kmdly mention the system of electricity used. Satisfaction guaranteed. Parties ordering these Reflectors need not hesitate to return them at our expense if not found satistactory. 1. p. FRINK, 551 Pearl Street, New York City, GEO. FRINK SPENCER, Manager. Telephone, 860 Franklin. MASTERS IN ART The SODERHOLTZ PUBLICATIONSReproductions in photogravure, carbon, and platinum, of notable paintings by foreign and American artists E. E. Soderholtz & Co. , Publishers, 1 1 India St., Boston ART PHOTO G RA P HS E PUBLISH 20,000 SUBJECTS, INCLUDING REPRODUCTIONS OF THE WORKS OF OLD AND MODERN MASTERS »»» CATALOGUES TO ANY ADDRESS, 1 5 CENTS »»» PHOTOGRAPH MOUNTING AND PICTURE FRAMING TO ORDER »»• FOREIGN AND AMERICAN VIEWS •••LAN TERN-SLIDES TO ORDER 4^ SOULE PHOTOGRAPH COMPANY, 338 Washington Street, Boston, Massachusetts ASXERS IN ART A S E RI E S O F I I^ L U S T RAT ED MONOGRAPHS: ISSUED MONTHL ¥ ALREADY PtfBLISHED i^ntj^iing ^an lUtjtfe Na;vXT JANUARY, ^,900 PRICE, IS CENTS, POSTPAID ; Cilian Ne, :: FEBRUARY, 1900 VS - PRICE, 15 CENTS, POSTPAID - — =3*fer ^ela^quej N ; 3; MARCH, 1900 PRICE, IS CENTS, POSTPAID The MAY issue of " M.' IN ART " (No. 5) wm hjive for its subject fx:' ' READY APRIL as; PRICE, 15 CENTS, POSTPAID inABTERS IH ART eoDslata of a aeries e^ Monographs issued in the form of a monthly magasine. <^ Bacfa number, complete in itself, aims to adequately illustrate, and thoroughly describe and criti cise the work, .and jelate the life, of one of the great painters of the world. r#^ Each isiue contains fuU-pa^e reproductions of ten paintings by the master discussed, which, I— in the opinion of competent critics, are the most beautiful ana representative — which most fiiU^ 'MV manifest that masters genius. A portrait of him is added whenever one of authentic value w n\ obtainable. aaa-*%The text consists of a truatworthy account of the artist's life, quotations from what the most eminent art critics of the world have said of him, together with a description of hu school, a bibliography of the literature relating to bis work, a list of his paintings, etc. ^ ., . ^ , . , , rVbTo the lover of art- the magazine wHl thus bring yearly one hundred and twenty adequate reproductlons'of the most representative masterpieces. To the student it will be an attractive monthly lesson, providing him with a eonaensu* of the world's best critical judgment, and affording a basis for further detailed research. The collected numbers wilt form a Library of Art.' , ^ ,-..,.,. _^ , ^ , ._ , . „ •A That the magazine may be brought to the greatest value In the shortest time, the twelve numbers of the first year win be devoted to those twelve paintera most typically representative in all the great schools. In point of time' the period from Botticelli to Jean Francois Millet will be covered, and each eminent school of art will be rep resented by at least one leading snaster. It will be apparent, therefore, that to subscribers of the first year the maeazine will bring reproducnona of one hundred and twenty of the greatest paintings in the world, and by faauUarizing the student with • representative master in each school, wiU form a basis for further study. Subscription Price, $1.50 « year, in advance, postpaid Single Copies, 15 cents BATES & GUILD COMPANY, PUBLISHERS 13 EXCHANGE STREET, BOSTON, MASS. €l0on ^rmt0^^ Ten photogravures (from intaglio plates) of the greatest Americans. Printed with plate mark and auto graphs on gxx2 special deckel etch ing paper. The list comprises : — '^^nfiftt'ttft^^-tt f^oto celebrated Athenaeum jB^ady lll^UJ H portrait from life by O. Stuart. 9AffM*<4<^4« from the original painting from life ^(lin-dUU in Bowdoin CoUege, by O. Stuart. :X&r«'M*tf 4'A'** ''^™ * drawing from the portrait ^AlUUUJIl from life in the Bedford House, Katonah, by J. Trumbull. 3wms (Btis * « from the painting attributed to J. S. Duplessis. * from the painting from life by J. S. Copley. * * from the painting by J. D. Blackburn. ^0£itP|) WattEU from the painting by J. S.Copley. ^att^tCtl ^tViV^ frofn t^e painting from life by Thomas Sully. T^iTiCvVH * * • • from a negative from life made in 1864. (!^0tl« X^raill' * * from a negative from life by F. Qutekunst, 1865. Price, $1.00 per portfolio of 10 prints, including descriptive text, or zo cents per print. This is the seventh portfolio published in Elson Prints. The others are as follows : Gen. Washington, Here Shakespeare Lived, Greek and Roman Architecture, Greek Sculpture (earlier periods), Greek Sculpture (later periods), and Egyptian Architecture. Send 10 cents in stamps for sample print and descriptive list. ^. W. ^hm $^ Company^ iluftlkfiet^, 146 Mtt^u ^txttU Boston, 0i^m. %xt for g)c!)ools* We also publish large carbons and photogravures of works of art for educational institutions. Printed at The Everett 3 9002 08867 2630