Comments on: Hans Holbein The Younger

By: Leah

Leah — Mon, 07 Feb 2011 16:22:27 +0000

Hoi, I think More was an ugly guy but the technique used in this painting is amazing! And Mark, I don’t think it was camera obscura either. You couldn’t have gotten that kind of detail back then. Artist can achieve that much detail, it’s just a bitch to do. There’s a lot we don’t know. Maybe while working on More’s face he had the easel up closer. There are tricks of the trade to achieve such detail but many artist would rather not spend that sort of time on a painting. I know I don’t!

By: J.R.

J.R. — Wed, 15 Sep 2010 01:08:44 +0000

Agreed, A.D.! I just finished Bennett’s fabulous novel and it was so compelling and so clearly based on extensive research that it brought me here to this site (and others) to learn more about Holbein and his subjects. Amazing artist.

By: A. D.

A. D. — Sun, 25 Jul 2010 14:14:47 +0000

If you are interested in Holbein and enjoy historical fiction, you may enjoy the novel “Portrait of an Unknown Woman” by Vanora Bennett. This and other portraits of Holbein are featured in this well researched historical tale.

By: David

David — Sun, 14 Dec 2008 15:52:46 +0000

Mark says it was done with a camera obscura, possibly, but it does not make the painting any less amazing! To reproduce such fine detail from a fuzzy image that a camera obscura would produce requires the skill of a great artist.Consider how still the subject and the artist would have to be compared with a motionless photographic image.I believe Holbein was capable of exact observational drawing without recourse to mirrors and lenses. If it was so easy to cheat we would have many more examples and records of this practice.Much of Holbein’s preparatory drawings and methods are inevitably lost and we are left with the finished products which are amazing and were meant to be so!

By: hoi

hoi — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 07:23:26 +0000

I think it is a verry ugly thingg

By: Greig Aitken

Greig Aitken — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 17:27:01 +0000

Help direct me, if possible. I was given (down through generations of my family – now deceased,) a picture of Hans Holbein (1543) which they have claimed to be an original and they said that they had been offerred thousands just for the frame alone. My Dad, Hugh Guthrie Aitken was first generation English and there was Scottish/German and many other mixtures from Maxwell Aitken from his side of the family. I told them that I would do nothing with the picture as long as they were alive, however now I need to find out where to go to find out if there is authenticity. Thanks
Greig

By: Mark 2000

Mark 2000 — Sat, 19 Jan 2008 05:31:07 +0000

Too much detail, too perfect. I bet you it was done with a camera obscura. Northern Europeans were using the technique a lot. He probably brought it over to England with him. I mean, the glint on his stubble. The fact that he has stubble. Its too much detail for a human being to capture on their own.

By: George Gay

George Gay — Tue, 10 Jul 2007 21:24:01 +0000

I have been looking at a number of Hans Holbein portraits and find that he exhibits a common mistake of beginning art students in that he lops off much of the upper part of his sitters heads. He does this mostly with the men sitters as I have not yet found this error in any of the women’s portraits. Can anyone tell me why this is? I can see that he was a consummate draftsman in reproducing the facial details of his sitters, but the disproportionate reproductions of the head, with the distance from the chin to the centerline of the eyes not being equal to the distance from the top of the head to the centerline of the eyes makes me wonder if perhaps he had assistants finish the portraits after he painted in the facial features. did he do this on purpose? Can anyone answer this puzzle for me?