Hans Holbein the Younger

The Ambassadors — Tudor court painter

The greatest portrait painter of the Northern Renaissance. His likenesses of Henry VIII, Thomas More, Erasmus, and the Tudor court are so precise and psychologically penetrating that they define how we imagine the sixteenth century. The Ambassadors — with its famous anamorphic skull — is the most intellectually complex Northern painting.

Key works

• The Ambassadors1533— Two men, a skull, and the vanity of learning
  National Gallery, London
• Portrait of Henry VIII1537— The image that IS Henry VIII
  Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum, Madrid (portrait); Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool (full-length)
• Portrait of Erasmus1523— The humanist at his writing desk
  National Gallery, London / Kunstmuseum Basel

Connections

External