German 1497-1543 Hans Holbein Galleries Holbein always made highly detailed pencil drawings of his portrait subjects, often supplemented with ink and colored chalk. The drawings emphasize facial detail and usually did not include the hands; clothing was only indicated schematically. The outlines of these drawings were then transferred onto the support for the final painting using tiny holes in the paper through which powdered charcoal was transmitted; in later years Holbein used a kind of carbon paper. The final paintings thus had the same scale as the original drawings. Although the drawings were made as studies for paintings, they stand on their own as independent, finely wrought works of art. How many portraits have been lost can be seen from Holbein's book (nearly all pages in the Royal Collection) containing preparatory drawings for portraits - of eighty-five drawings, only a handful have surviving Holbein paintings, though often copies have survived. David Hockney has speculated in the Hockney-Falco thesis that Holbein used a concave mirror to project an image of the subject onto the drawing surface. The image was then traced. However this thesis has not met with general acceptance from art historians. A subtle ability to render character may be noted in Holbein's work, as can be seen in his portraits of Thomas Cromwell, Desiderius Erasmus, and Henry VIII. The end results are convincing as definitive images of the subjects' appearance and personality.  Related Paintings of Hans Holbein :. | The birth of Christ | Portrait of a Man | Portrait of an unknown man, supposed effigy of Thomas More. | With squirrels and birds swept Europe and the portrait of woman | Portrait of Jane Seymour |
Related Artists:
Diego Velazquez
Spanish Baroque Era Painter, 1599-1660 Spanish painter. He was one of the most important European artists of the 17th century, spending his career from 1623 in the service of Philip IV of Spain. His early canvases comprised bodegones and religious paintings, but as a court artist he was largely occupied in executing portraits, while also producing some historical, mythological and further religious works. His painting was deeply affected by the work of Rubens and by Venetian artists, especially Titian, as well as by the experience of two trips (1629-31 and 1649-51) to Italy. Under these joint influences he developed a uniquely personal style characterized by very loose, expressive brushwork. Although he had no immediate followers, he was greatly admired by such later painters as Goya and Manet
William Charles Ross
English Miniature Painter, 1794-1860 was a British painter. Early in his career, he was known for historical paintings, but he later gained fame for his miniatures and portraits. He was made a member of the Royal Academy in 1842.
Ignacio Pinazo
1849-1916 He came from a poor family and in his youth worked as a silversmith, gilder, tile painter and hatter. This experience encouraged an independent spirit unencumbered by academic doctrine. He did, however, attend the Escuela de Bellas Artes in Valencia while working as a hatter, studying colour and composition, life drawing and drawing from the Antique (1868-9). In 1870 he started to devote himself wholly to painting. His early works include several portraits. A series of stays in Italy were important for Pinazo's development. The first of these took place in 1873, when he spent seven months visiting Rome, Naples and Venice and became familiar with the work of Mariano Jos? Bernardo Fortuny y Marsal, whose influence can be seen in Pinazo's small-scale landscapes on panel . Soon, however, his work came to resemble that of the impressionistic Italian painters, the Macchiaioli, as in Pinazo's brightly coloured Wheat-field. His second stay in Italy began in 1877 with an award for his large history painting, Landing of Francis I of France in Valencia