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 :. | Portrait of a Lady with a Squirrel and a Starling | Madonna of Mercy and the Family of Jakob Meyer zum Hasen | Portrait of William Reskimer. Coloured chalks on pink-primed paper | Our Lady Meyer | Jane Seymour |
Related Artists:
GHERARDO DI GIOVANNI
Italian miniaturist, Florentine school (active 1460-1497)
Charles conder
English-born Australian Painter, 1868-1909 English painter, active in Australia and France. He was sent to Australia in 1884 to learn surveying under his uncle W. J. Conder. After about two years in survey camps, he attended evening classes at the Royal Art Society, Sydney; in 1887 he worked as a lithographic draughtsman for the Illustrated Sydney News. Tom Roberts, then in Sydney on a visit from Melbourne, was among the open-air landscape painters that he knew at this time. He taught Conder some of the principles of Impressionism, such as truth to the momentary effect of light and to colour values, and the rejection of the academic ideal of high finish. The most important painting of Conder's Sydney years, the Departure of the 'SS Orient' from Circular Quay, 1888 (1888; Sydney, A.G. NSW), already showed a distinct personal style, combining humour with nostalgia and selective observation with decorative finesse of handling and design. In December 1888 Conder joined Roberts and Arthur Streeton in Melbourne. During the following summers they painted together at the outer suburbs of Mentone, Box Hill and Eaglemont
Joachim Beuckelaer
1535-1574 Flemish Joachim Beuckelaer Galleries b Antwerp, c. 1534; dAntwerp, c. 1574). Flemish painter. He came from an Antwerp family of obscure painters and seems to have spent his entire life there. He trained in the studio of Pieter Aertsen, who in 1542 had married Beuckelaers aunt; he became an independent master and also married in 1560. His earliest known work dates from that year, and his development can be followed closely to 1570. The example of Beuckelaers master remained decisive throughout his career. Not only did he take over Aertsens new repertory of secular subjects, he also completely adopted his stylistic idiom and manner of painting, so that it can be difficult to distinguish the two hands. Beuckelaer was, however, by no means a slavish imitator, and as regards execution he fully bears comparison with Aertsen.