Hans Holbein the Younger, Volume 1 (of 2) by Arthur B. Chamberlain
introduction, and they may have been aware, also, though this is less
838 words | Chapter 135
likely, that it was he who designed the title-page used in the edition
of the _Utopia_ published by Froben in 1518, signed “Hans Holb.” In 1525
a certain Thomas Grey and his youngest son were living with Erasmus in
Basel, according to a letter from the latter to Lupset;[526] and Grey,
too, may have advised Holbein to seek fortune at Henry’s court. “Grey,”
says Erasmus, “reports that there is no disturbance in England,” and
this news may have proved an added inducement to the painter to quit a
country agitated with religious and civil contention for a more peaceful
locality where the arts could flourish in peace.
Before leaving Basel, Holbein made one last attempt, as already
recounted,[527] to obtain from the Antonine Abbey of Isenheim the
painting materials which his father had left there some years
previously. The strongly-worded letter, dated 4th July 1526, which the
Burgomaster of Basel, Heinrich Meltinger, wrote at his request, is
addressed to the “venerable Herr Vicar and preceptor of the Order of St.
Antonius at Isenenn, our dear and gracious Master,” and runs as follows:
“Venerable, gracious, and dear sir, receive our friendly and ready
service. Hans Holbein, painter, our citizen, has proposed to us to paint
an altar-panel, such as his deceased father painted in former years. He
left some implements of an expensive kind, weighing about three hundred
and two cubic measures, with you at Isenheim, which he, Hans Holbein,
repeatedly during the lifetime of his father, and at his desire, and
also after his decease, being his heir, demanded of you, but could never
obtain; for what reasons he knows not. Thus the matter has been delayed
to such an extent that the peasants, he is informed, have wasted these
implements in the last uproar, and when he again desired them of you, as
his father’s heir, you referred him, with his request, to the peasants,
with whom he has nothing to do, and to whom he has intrusted nothing,
and notified to him an appointment on the Saturday after the next Ulrici
(7th July) at Ensisheim. We, having heard his business, and given
credence to it, and being well inclined to further him, have not allowed
him to keep such an appointment, or to make any demand of the peasants
(with whom he, as we have heard, has nothing to do), but have firm
confidence in you, that you will weigh the matter thoroughly, and hand
over to him, as the heir of his deceased father, completely and without
difficulty, the aforementioned implements, or, in case nothing of them
now exists, compensate him for their loss, and so show yourself towards
him in the affair, that he may feel that our intercession has been
advantageous, and that no further steps are necessary. Such behaviour on
your side we wish for him, to whom it is justly due.”[528]
This letter affords proof that Ambrosius Holbein was dead, for in it
Hans is mentioned more than once as his father’s heir, and it also shows
that the Basel Council were not so actively opposed to the painting of
altar-pieces as other incidents of the time suggest. Nothing further is
known of this altar-panel which Holbein proposed to paint for them.
[Sidenote: ERASMUS’ LETTER OF INTRODUCTION]
It is evident that the materials, which would now have been very useful
to him, had been destroyed or dispersed in the peasant rising, and that
he obtained neither colours nor redress. He left Basel for England on or
about August 29, 1526, as appears from a letter of introduction of that
date which he carried with him from Erasmus to his friend Peter Ægidius,
the learned traveller and town-clerk of Antwerp, in which Holbein was
recommended to his notice as the artist who had painted Erasmus. Ægidius
is also asked to introduce him to Quentin Metsys. The part of the letter
which refers to Holbein (though not by name) runs as follows:—
“The bearer of this letter is the man who painted my portrait. I do not
trouble you with any commendation of him, though he is an excellent
artist (_artifex_). If he wants to call on Quentin, and you have not
leisure to introduce him, you can send a servant with him to show him
the house. The arts are freezing in this part of the world, and he is on
his way to England to pick up some angels there (_petit Angliam ut
corrodat aliquot Angelatos_—Erasmus plays upon the words Angles and
Angels). You can send on any letters you like by him.”[529] There is no
reason to suppose that Holbein delayed his departure after receiving
this letter from his patron, who must also have supplied him with
introductions to More, Warham, and other friends in England. It was, no
doubt, necessary for him to arrange with the Town Council for leave of
absence, and this having been done, he must have started not later than
the first days of September, reaching London towards the close of the
same month.
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