Holbein

An artist's life unfolds through portraits, woodcuts and religious paintings in Beatrice Fortescue's study of Hans Holbein the Younger. First published in 1904, the illustrated volume begins with his family in Augsburg and traces his work in Basel and at the court of Henry VIII. Erasmus and Sir Thomas More appear among the people whose connections with the painter help Fortescue place his art within the religious and cultural changes of his time.

Close attention to individual pictures gives the biography another focus. In the Ploughman and the Priest, Fortescue considers how the figure of Death can express kindness toward labourers, older people and those nearing life's end. Her descriptions connect line, gesture and symbolism with the feelings a design conveys. Readers interested in Holbein's portraits can also explore his work for books and decorative objects, while seeing how one writer interprets the relationship between his images and his life.