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Home / People / Hans Holbein the Younger

Historical person

Hans Holbein the Younger

1497–1543

Hans Holbein the Younger was a German-Swiss artist who became one of the most important portrait painters of the northern Renaissance. After working in Basel, he travelled to England and entered the service of Henry VIII. His precise images of courtiers, merchants and royal family members shaped the visual memory of Tudor England.

Holbein also produced designs, murals and diplomatic marriage portraits, including the famous image of Anne of Cleves. He died in London in 1543. Hans Holbein the Younger also worked as court painter. Hans Holbein the Younger was born in Augsburg and died in London.

Alison Weir’s Anna of Kleve uses Holbein’s portrait of Anne as part of the diplomatic machinery that brings her into Henry VIII’s marriage negotiations. The painter’s image helps turn a German dynastic match into a decision made at the English court, and the later argument over whether the portrait had flattered Anne becomes part of the novel’s treatment of Henry’s rejection of his fourth wife.

Periods

Periods linked to Hans Holbein the Younger

Tudor Period1485–1603 CE

Series

Historical novels and book series featuring Hans Holbein the Younger (1 series)

Six Tudor Queens in Order

by Alison Weir 21 books 4.2(79,643)

The Six Tudor Queens sequence retells the lives of Henry VIII’s wives through six full-length novels. Twelve companion stories shift attention to relatives, servants, artists and courtiers affected by the same events, while Six Tudor Queens: Writing a New Story explains the project’s historical method. In the Shadow…

All books in this series