Holbein

the long version

Holbein's work exhibits both the highest standards of craftsmanship achieved during the northern Renaissance of the early sixteenth century and an uncommon ability to translate his perception of his sitters into paintings and drawings. His two visits to England produced a series of masterpieces of the portrait painter's art. His second English period lasted from 1532 to his death in 1543, and during that time Holbein emerged not only as one of the great European portraitists but also as the chief image-maker of the court of Henry VIII. Indeed our entire visual concept of the Tudor monarch and those around him is firmly rooted in what Holbein saw and recorded.