Page:The Building News and Engineering Journal, Volume 22, 1872.djvu/44

 28 ised, is a particular loss. It was spacious, paved with black and white stone, richly wainscoted, beautifully roofed in painted plaster, and adorned by magnificent Medieval fireplaces. Thence, in a right line of no less than three hundred and forty feet, ex- tended what were called the state apart- ments, though they were never, in reality, withdrawn from occasional family use. We need not linger among the works of art here preserved, since happily the fire left most of them uninjured, but passing forth, through a park notto be surpassed in Hinglish scenery, we enter a building designed and erected to hold, as a shrine, one single gem, and that a gem of Titanic dimensions. This is a vase, among the noblest as well as the largest products of antiquity, composed of white marble, circular in form, capable of holding a hundred and seventy gallons, placed on a square pedestal, movable by means of a mortise and tenon, decorated with bacchana- lian emblems, and having two yine-pattern handles, which, as a Latin inscription upon it tells us, was found at the bottom of a lake, not far from Hadrian’s Villa, near Tivoli, or about twelve or fourteen miles from Rome. It was first purchased by Sir William Hamilton, of whom it was afterwards re- purchased by the Earl of Warwick, who brought it to England, and permitted Lord Lonsdale to have a model of it executed in solid silver. Supposing this to have been fractured by the fire, would Mr. Ruskin have prohibited, in the name of art, a re- course to Polytechnic cement? Or is he not so entirely dedicated to fragments, after all ? For ourselves, let us repeat, we draw a dis- tinction between the ruin wrought by time— when gray and venerable structures, ‘‘ ancient of days,” having seen their history out, fade like neglected beacons, and fall into natural decay, lowering their high crests, generation after generation, until they exist no more except as cairns heaped up on the graves of gone eras—anda vulgar destruction caused by adrop of spilt oil, or an incautiously-lighted lucifer match. And we believe that most true antiquarians will be of our opinion in this respect. When age comes over War- wick Castle, so that it must crumble, and be no more, well and good; but, until then, let us preserve our proudest relic. —_____ “ HOLBEIN AND HIS TIME,” BY DR. WOLTMANN.* Hi translation of this book, which appears to be carefully and well done, is by Miss F. E. Bunnett. ‘The English edition is nicely got up as to printing and binding, but the engravings are decidedly below the usual standard of excellence, and this is particularly to be regretted in a work professedly upon fine art. ‘The life of Hans ilolbein is a very interesting one to all art-students, and any details tending to draw any part of it from the obscurity in which it is involved cannot be too highly prized. Holbein was the master spirit of a new age in art, and essentially a man of his time, which time happened to bea remarkably striking one—a time ripe for cul- tivating the individual characters of men, calling forth not only the two great German artists, Diirer and Holbein, but many other distinguished men in different phases of life. Our painter was born in the free imperial city of Augsburg, the true home of German Re- naissance, and therefore worthy to produce the great Renaissance painter. It was, at the time of Holbein’s birth, in a very flourishing con- dition. Its merchants and citizens were famous for their riches and culture and their liberal advocacy of free trade. Its popula- tion, taken asa whole, was prosperous and busy. Its public buildings were noble and imposing. From its geographical position it maintained constant and amicable relations with Venice Translated by F. E. BUNNET?. I yol., small 4to. London: Richard Bentley & Son. THE BUILDING NEWS. and Italy, and from the special favour andl| frequent visits paid to it by that true lover of art, the Kmperor Maximilian, called in derision by Louis XII. of France, ‘‘'The Bur- gomaster of Augsburg,” the city preserved a festive and joyous life. The date of our painter’s birth is supposed by Dr. Woltmann, who details the different dates and the reasons for and against believing in them with scrupulous minuteness, to be 1495. He was the second son of Hans Holbein, the elder, himself an artist of position, who had already cast off many of the mannerisms of the earlier style of art. His more celebrated son evidently trod closely in his father’s footsteps, and began his painter’s life by working for and with his father. The oldest authentic paint- ings of Hans Holbein the younger, are dated 1512, but it is probable that many of his sketches in the Berlin Museum, drawn in metallic pencil on leaves torn out of a sketch- book, and some oil pictures for his father, were executed before this time. But Holbein’s most celebrated picture painted during his residence at Augsburg is the ‘‘ Martyrdom of S. Sebastian,” until recently erroneously ascribed to his father. It is a triptych now in the Pinakothek of Munich. ‘The sufferings of the saint, tied to a tree, and pierced by arrows, occupy the centre panel of the picture; on the side panels are 8. Barbara and SS. Elizabeth, the latter ministering to the lepers. The outer sides of the panel represent the Annunciation. Holbein removed to Basle, in Switzerland, about the year 1515, perhaps on account of the greater freedom to be had in that city, which was then also a place where the trade of book printing was principally carried on, and where our artist was sure to get much employment in wood engraving. Holbein hadrelations in Switzer- land, and was accompanied to Basle by his elder brother, Ambrosius, who probably died there soon after. It was at Basle that he painted the celebrated portraits of Jacob Meier and his wife. This Meier was burgomaster of the city; he subse- quently ordered of the painter the famous “Meier Madonna.” Eight scenes from the “Passion,” now in the Basle Museum, the organ doors of Basle Cathedral, and many other works, were executed by Holbeinat this period. Professor Woltmann makes a long and interesting comparison between the two Meier Madonnas, the rival pictures of Dresden and of Darmstadt, and gives the palm of originality to the latter. His judgment has been confirmed since his book was written by many of the art connoisseurs who visited the Dresden Exhibition last autumn. Wolt- mann considers the Dresden picture to be a copy of a later period, not agreeing with several authorities who hold the Dresden picture to be a replica of the Darmstadt one, executed by the painter himself. It was at Basle that Holbein made the acquaintance of Erasmus, who first introduced the painter to England. It-is much to be regretted that the letter evidently written by Erasmus to Sir Thomas More, in which he seems fully to have expressed himself about Holbein, is lost. Erasmus had already sent a portrait | of himself, executed by Holbein, to Warham, ; Archbishop of Canterbury, so that the j painter’s works were known in England} before he came here himself. Holbein’s principal employment during his sojourn in Basle must have been his numerous , illustrated Sir Thomas More’s ‘* Utopia,” and | the ‘* Praise of Folly,” by Erasmus, besides making numerous sketches and designs for initial letters, illustrations to geographical and astronomical maps, designs for moral pictures, peasant life, and monograms for printers. The “‘ Utopia” was printed at Basle by Froben, a by Erasmus, and with whom Holbein must haye had many business relations. There isa portrait of Froben preserved in the Basle Jax. 12, 1872. of a later date. There is also a portrait called ‘‘Froben” in the Hampton Court collection, mentioned in the catalogue of Charles I.’s pictures, and which has many signs of origi- nality about it. While at Basle, Holbein em- braced the principles of the Reformation, which early gained a strong footing in that city.. He illustrated several editions of Luther’s ‘Translation of the Holy Scriptures,” pub- lished by Adam Petri. The freedom and energy of the designs, and the simple noble- ness of their conception, betray the work of a master spirit. Our painter also worked on the side of the new religious ideas with the weapon of ridicule, and published illustrations deriding the sale of indulgences and other errors. Three of these compositions are preserved in the Bodleian, at Oxford. But Holbein’s chief fame in wood engraving rests on his series of woodcuts, ‘‘ The Dance of Death,” which may be considered his principal work, says Dr. Woltmann,as faras regards artistic imagination. He proclaims the irresistible power of death most forcibly by introducing its terrors in the midst of present life. All the cos- tumes of the knight, the trader, the peasant, and the prince, who are torn away by death in the midst of their avocations, are of the painter’s own time, and their surroundings those of his own period. He appears in these woodcuts as the champion of the Reformation by representing the devils watching for the Pope’s soul, while he directs his sharpest arrows of ridicule against the clergy. He also proves his democratic ten- dencies by allowing death to come peacefully only to the poor peasant and the humble trader. In 1526 Holbein started to carry out his resolve of visiting England. Some of his biographers have declared that he did this on account of his domestic discomforts, but Professor Woltmann proves that it was more probably the ferment of religious discord in Basle, which by cutting off his means of livelihood led him to seek work elsewhere. Arrived in England, Holbein waslodged and received, most probably at Chelsea, by Sir Thomas More; but it appears that it was not till much later, when he came to England for the second time, that he obtained the favour of the king. Holbein painted many portraits»: during this visit, but it is an unfortunate fact that many more are ascribed to him with which he can haye had nothing to do, seeing that several of them are portraits of people born after his death. Perhaps the two best originals executed at this period are first, the head of Warham, Archbishop of Canterbury, now at Lambeth, and secondly, Mr. Henry Huth’s really authentic portrait of Sir Thomas More. Besides these, there is, at Windsor Castle, an almost invaluable collection of drawings by the artist, in red chalk, por- traits of the various celebrities of the Court and period. In the year 1529 Holbein returned to Basle, carrying with him his sketch of the entire More family, which he showed to Erasmus, who writes enthusiasti- cally on the subject to Margaret Roper, More’s daughter. Dr. Woltmann declares the original picture lost, but there are two or three in this country, particularly the Nostell More family, exhibited in the National Por- trait Gallery in 1866, which have claims to at least partial originality. The whole ques- tion is amply discussed in ‘‘ Walpole.” ; Holbein executed some wall paintings on his return to the city of his adoption; also a portrait picture, life size, of his wife and children, whom he had left behind him at Basle, and whom he shortly after again bade good-bye to, never to see them more, for he did not remain very long in the Swiss city. In spite of the remonstrances of the Burgo- master of Basle, he again returned to England in 1532 to find one of his patrons dead, and the other disgraced. Nevertheless, Holbein continued to find patronage in England. He took up his abode in the Steelyard, and painted several of the German merchants who then lived in that part of the city. He gradually also became employed in painting
 * Holbein and His Time.’ By Professor WOLTMANN.
 * sketches and designs for woodblocks. He;
 * celebrated printer of that city, greatly beloved
 * Museum, said to be a Holbein, but probably