Artist: Hans Holbein The Younger
Size: 38 x 42 cm
Museum: Kupferstichkabinett (Berlin, Germany)
Technique: Drawing
Holbein’s second period in England, which culminated in 1536 with his appointment as court painter to the king, began with a commission for the Steelyard, headquarters of London’s influential community of Hanseatic merchants. In addition to commissions for canvas wall paintings (sadly only known to us today in the form of two copies), he also designed a street tableau used as part of a commemorative display, erected in front of the Steelyard in May 1533 to mark the coronation of Henry VIII’s second wife, Anne Boleyn. The work consequently represents an unusual commission in Holbein’s oeuvre. We see the figure of Apollo, his throne spanned by a canopy, atop which perches an eagle. Wearing the robes of a Roman emperor, Apollo is surrounded by the nine muses. Neither the drawings nor contemporary descriptions reveal with any degree of certainty whether the figures were painted, or rather represented by real people. By contrast, a number of sources state that the central fountain, which symbolized the Castalian Springs of Delphi, flowed until evening with Rhenish wine.
Artist |
|
|---|---|
Download |
|
Permissions |
Free for non commercial use. See below. |
 |
This image (or other media file) is in the public domain because its copyright has expired. However - you may not use this image for commercial purposes and you may not alter the image or remove the watermark. This applies to the United States, Canada, the European Union and those countries with a copyright term of life of the author plus 70 years.
|
Note that a few countries have copyright terms longer than 70 years: Mexico has 100 years, Colombia has 80 years, and Guatemala and Samoa have 75 years. This image may
not be in the public domain in these countries, which moreover do not implement the
