Jeanne Nuechterlein's Hans Holbein: The Artist in a Changing World provides a welcome reconsideration of the artist at an opportune moment, with renewed attention to Holbein and German Renaissance art due to several prominent recent exhibits. The book is part of Reaktion Books’s Renaissance Lives series. As Nuechterlein is quick to explain, Holbein is ill suited in some ways for inclusion in a biographical series focused on the lives of significant early modern figures, given that little is known about his life, and he remains frustratingly elusive as an individual. Very little direct evidence about his life remains and he left behind no written corpus. Nuechterlein addresses this challenge by interrogating the larger enterprise and methodology of the artist biography and by reframing the book's intent: “Instead of trying to recover Holbein as a fixed personality, this book aims to illuminate the complexity of his world and the images he generated” (12).
Although not structured as a history of a life from birth to death, the book progresses in a largely chronological way, beginning with Holbein's early years as an artist in Augsburg and ending with his late works in England. Nuechterlein's focus is on the way Holbein responded to changing intellectual, artistic, religious, and political forces in his lifetime and probing moments of change in Holbein's art, stating that “we can never be absolutely certain about the motivations behind changes, but they provide critical points for investigation and analysis” (11). The book explores his training, his use of materials and graphic techniques (chapter 1), his response to humanism and new forms of classically inspired representation (chapter 2), religious changes, signally the Protestant Reformation (chapter 3), new forms of scientific knowledge (chapter 4), and his changing patronage base (chapter 5). The result is an in-depth treatment of Holbein's artistic production, with individual works shown as highly responsive to the specific contexts of their making, and a comprehensive examination of the broader forces that Holbein navigated.
The book suggests what Holbein was seemingly not personally interested in, most notably religion and science, and the ways in which his career and artistic approach differed from those of his contemporaries. Of Holbein's religious beliefs, Nuechterlein states, “We might conclude . . . that he did not have the deepest of convictions either way” (126). Similarly, “it seems unlikely that Holbein ever had much personal interest in science per se” (140). The book makes inferences about Holbein's motivations, but tempers interpretation with caution. What was of interest to Holbein? Status, security, and reputation, certainly. A careful reading of Holbein's works reveals what engaged him artistically and what makes his art distinctive and compelling. His representational approach is shown to skillfully manipulate reality to create works that appear closely based on empirical observation, yet he also introduces elements that depart from reality as a way of conveying meaning or heightening artistic effect.
Holbein's output as a portraitist in Henry VIII's England is likely the best-known aspect of his career. According to Nuechterlein, Holbein painted portraits for over 20 percent of the eighty-three English peerage families during his time in England. That popularity is persuasively explained by identifying the ways in which Holbein's style was uniquely suited to the dynamics of that particular historical moment. His ability to create portraits that “essentialize, and naturalize, a personal and social identity for each sitter” (219) would have been especially desirable at a time when social position was increasingly unstable and liable to change rapidly, to the notable detriment of several of Holbein's prominent sitters. His unquestionable talent as a portraitist is further grounded in his ability to “successfully generate the impression that the inner person is fully aligned with their external projection” (210).
This is that unusual book which is both accessible to the general reader and illuminating to the specialist. Nuechterlein deftly explains key concepts in a way that is comprehensible to a reader new to the subject, without making the book feel introductory to the specialist who will find many new insights to take away from the analysis. The book provides a deep reading of Holbein's career and explores the full contours of his artistic practice, providing close readings of lesser-known works alongside treatment of his better-known works. Work such as his designs for media other than painting and printed projects is shown as key to understanding his output, representational choices, and artistic development. While Holbein the individual persona may remain tantalizingly out of reach, his artistic intentionality and approach is recoverable, as the author demonstrates. This comprehensive and authoritative work is a welcome addition to Holbein literature and offers a definitive treatment of the artist.
