CHAPTER IX

DESIGNS FOR BOOK ILLUSTRATIONS

Holbein’s work for the Basel publishers—Imperfection of the cutting of his earlier book illustrations—His connection with Hans Lützelburger—His first title-page—More’s _Utopia_—the Table of Cebes—Luther’s translation of the New Testament—Title-page to the quarto edition—Work for Luther’s translation of the Old Testament—“The Sale of Indulgences”—“Christ the True Light”—Woodcuts representing incidents of common life, dancing, merry-making, &c.—Initial letters and alphabets—Trade-marks and devices for printers.

THROUGHOUT the whole period of his first residence in Basel a considerable part of Holbein’s time was occupied with the production of designs for book illustrations, such as title-pages, head and tail-pieces, ornamental borders, initial letters, and printers’ marks. Including the “Dance of Death” and Old Testament illustrations, and the various alphabets of his designing, Woltmann enumerates more than three hundred woodcuts or metal engravings, large or small, for which Holbein made the drawings. Much of his work of this kind was done for Froben, but he was also frequently employed by Adam Petri, Thomas Wolff, and other printers and publishers.

The old contention that Holbein himself cut the blocks bearing his own designs, which at one time produced much acrimonious dispute and a voluminous literature, has long since been abandoned, and there is absolutely nothing to be said in its favour. He must, however, have had a thorough working knowledge of the technical side of woodengraving, and of the limits within which it was necessary to confine his art; and within those limits he produced the most splendid results.

A number of his earlier designs were not cut in wood, but in metal. The method was similar to that of wood-cutting, the drawing being left in relief, as on the wood block, a process exactly opposite to copperplate engraving, in which the lines to be reproduced are incised. Several of his title-pages and ornaments from metal blocks bear the initials I.F. upon them, and it was at one time considered that they were probably the work of Froben himself,[433] who is described more than once as “chalcographer,” or a worker in metal. The term, however, may mean only a designer and caster of type, which was a trade Froben followed side by side with that of a publisher. The I.F. of these engravings was not Froben, but Jakob Faber, who was the best of the cutters in metal who worked after Holbein. Froben, no doubt, employed a permanent staff of engravers, both for his own publications and also for the sale of blocks and plates to other publishers. Faber was possibly one of those who found more or less regular employment in his service, and another was the engraver with the signature “C.V.,” who engraved the eight metal cuts in illustration of the Lord’s Prayer, which appeared about 1523, badly printed, in two rare editions of the _Precatio Dominica_ of Erasmus, copies of which are included in the William Mitchell Collection in the British Museum. The proofs in the Basel Gallery have German text; the Mitchell set, with a clause of the Paternoster in French printed at the top of each cut, is a unique state, and the impressions are very early and sharp. The same “C.V.” engraved in metal the Evangelists in the Greek Testaments of 1524 and 1540.

One of the finest of Faber’s metal-cuts is the folio title-page issued by Cratander in 1525, representing Christ before God the Father, surrounded by a great crowd of boy-angels, in the lunette at the top, the symbols of the four Evangelists in niches shown in perspective at the sides, and the Apostles at the foot. This title-page is made up of four separate plates, each of which bears the initials “I.F.”[434] Quite recently (1913) the British Museum has received from the National Art-Collections Fund a rare Book of Hours, printed at Lyon in 1548, containing fourteen metal-cuts by Faber after Holbein’s designs.

[Sidenote: HANS LÜTZELBURGER]

According to Woltmann, many copper plates after Holbein’s designs were still in existence in Basel as late as 1852, in the possession of the family of a publisher named Haas, but were subsequently sold on a division of the property, all further traces of them being lost.[435] These metal engravings of Holbein’s book ornaments as a rule do but little justice to the original designs, and compare very unfavourably with the later wood engravings cut by Hans Lützelburger. They miss much of the strength and character of Holbein’s line, and are marked by a hardness of effect which is by no means pleasing.

Many of the earlier wood engravings, too, suffer in the same way from the imperfection of the cutting, inferior workmen having been employed to reproduce them, just as in the case of the book illustrations of Ambrosius Holbein, who was employed by Froben quite as often as his brother Hans, and whose work also suffered from inadequate translation. It thus becomes difficult, in the case of several unsigned prints, to decide which of the two young men was the designer of them. In these earlier efforts, too, Hans had not reached to that pitch of excellence in adapting his design to the requirements of the wood-cutters to which he attained some years later, when he was working in conjunction with Lützelburger, nor had his powers of draughtsmanship and composition yet found their complete expression. Having at length met with an engraver who could do full justice to his ideas, and one who was as great a master in one branch of art as he himself was in another, Holbein’s genius for decorative design matured rapidly, so that the two men between them produced works in this field which have never been surpassed. They worked together from the autumn of 1522 until Lützelburger’s death and Holbein’s departure from Basel in 1526.

Modern researches have failed to glean much information about the life and career of Lützelburger. On a tablet below a wood engraving of his cutting representing a battle between peasants and naked men in a fir wood in Utopia, designed by the unknown Augsburg master N.H., he signs himself “HANNS. LEVCZELLBVRGER. FVRMSCHNIDER. 1.5.2.2.” At a later date, on the proofs of Holbein’s “Dance of Death” alphabet, he calls himself “Hanns Lützelburger, furmschneider, genant Franck,” that is, “Hans Lützelburger, wood-engraver, called Franck.” This is printed in movable type, the first H being an ornamented Roman capital, while the other letters of the name are in the German character. He was one of the group of wood-engravers who were working at Augsburg about 1516-19, under the direction of Jost de Negker, on the blocks for the Emperor Maximilian, and his name is written or his monogram cut upon the back of nine of the “Triumph” blocks, still preserved at Vienna, and he also cut nine of the series of “Saints connected with the House of Habsburg” in 1516-17. All available evidence indicates that the “Battle of Naked Men” was engraved in Augsburg. In the same year, 1522, Lützelburger cut an alphabet for the printer Schöffer at Maintz, of which the letter L is signed “H.L.F.,” and the same date and initials occur on two specimen ornamental alphabets evidently designed by the same unknown artist.[436] Whether he was residing at Maintz at the time is uncertain, but by the autumn of 1522 Lützelburger had moved to Basel, and was at work on Adam Petri’s folio New Testament. There he remained until his death in the summer of 1526, in constant collaboration with Holbein, engraving, among many other designs, the “Dance of Death” woodcuts and many of the Old Testament illustrations. What little is known of him points rather to Augsburg than to Basel as his place of birth, though, according to Herr His-Heusler’s researches, a family of that name was then living in Basel, the names of both a Michael and a Jakob Lützelburger appearing in the baptismal register of St. Leonhard between 1529 and 1533; while the same name occurs frequently in the parish register of the adjacent town of Colmar during the first half of the sixteenth century. Further documents discovered by His-Heusler show that Lützelburger died in Basel before the 23rd June 1526, and that he was insolvent at the time. Among his creditors were the printer, Melchior Trechsel, of Lyon, for an advance of 27 florins 15 shillings, and Hans zum Sessel (Froben), for 3 florins 10 shillings. Trechsel, the publisher of the “Dance of Death” and “Old Testament” woodcuts, on hearing of Lützelburger’s death, also demanded certain wood blocks ordered by his firm, for which the money had been advanced, upon which the deceased had been at work. These blocks were sent to him on the condition that he appointed some person of substance in Basel as security, in case some other creditor proved to have prior claims on the estate; and in accordance with this arrangement he appointed Johan Lukas Iselin as his surety.[437] In the list of Lützelburger’s furniture and effects seized by the court he is described merely as “Hans Formschneider,” but there is no doubt that this “form-cutter” was Lützelburger, who at the time of his death was cutting the block of “The Waggoner” for the “Dance of Death,” which he left incomplete.

Holbein drew all these designs directly on the wood block. There is not a single sketch or study in existence for any one of the very numerous book illustrations and decorations which he produced.[438] His title-pages consist, in almost every case, of an ornamental framework of Renaissance design with small panels on either side containing figure subjects, usually taken from classical history or mythology, and across the bottom a larger panel in which the chief subject is depicted. These title-pages do not always consist of a single block, but of four separate borders or strips, not always used together, but combined with others, or used singly as chapter-headings or sidepieces. These title-pages, designed in the first place for some particular book, were thus afterwards often made to serve for the ornamentation of other publications, with which at times their subjects had very little connection; and they were also copied by various publishers and printers in other cities of Switzerland and in Germany and elsewhere.

[Sidenote: “MUCIUS SCÆVOLA AND LARS PORSENA”]

Holbein’s earliest design for this purpose, drawn in 1515, shortly after his arrival in Basel, and signed with the abbreviated name “Hans Holb.,” has been already described.[439] This title-page, with its nine little cupids, which has suffered from inferior cutting, but nevertheless has considerable charm, was first used by Froben in the winter of 1515, and appeared in a number of books issued during the next five years, including More’s _Utopia_, published by Froben in 1518. The first of his designs from ancient history formed the title-page to _Æneæ Platonici Christiani de immortalitate animæ_, issued by Froben in 1516, and also appeared in the Basel edition of the _Utopia_, and again in Erasmus’ _Praise of Matrimony_ in 1518. It represents the story of Mucius Scævola and Lars Porsena (Pl. 60),[440] but has been so badly cut that much of the dramatic force of Holbein’s composition has been lost. When Porsena, the Etruscan king, was blockading Rome, after his attempted entry into the city had been frustrated by the bravery of Horatius Cocles, Mucius, a young Roman nobleman, resolved to rid his country of the invader. In disguise he entered the hostile camp, and, approaching the tent in which Porsena sat, with his secretary, dressed in similar fashion to his master, by his side, plunged his dagger into the latter’s body, mistaking him for the king. He was seized by the guards, and condemned to death, but thrust his right hand into a fire which was already lighted for a sacrifice, and held it there without flinching, to show how little he heeded pain. Amazed at his bravery, Porsena allowed him to go free; and Mucius afterwards received the name of Scævola, or the left-handed, on account of his courage. Holbein has depicted the two chief incidents of this legendary story side by side across the bottom of the title-page. On the right is an open tent, in which Mucius is stabbing the secretary, who is seated at a table by the side of the king. On the left, Mucius, held by a guard, plunges his hand into the fire in the presence of Porsena and his courtiers. Over each of the principal characters is a label with his name, and in the background is a small walled city labelled “Roma.” The figures, which are clad in sixteenth-century costume, are short and stumpy, these faults, no doubt, being exaggerated by the inadequate rendering of the engraver. The sides of the page consist of two narrow panels of conventional foliated design, with small figures, springing from vases, while the upper border contains a group of naked children, blowing trumpets and dragging one of their number in triumph. A small shield in the middle of the left-hand border contains Holbein’s initials, “H.H.”

VOL. I., PLATE 60.

Froben, on the recommendation of Erasmus, undertook the publication of Sir Thomas More’s _Utopia_ in 1518, and the edition was lavishly ornamented with woodcuts, title-pages, and initials, in honour of the author. The book had been already published in Louvain in the winter of 1516. Gerardus Noviomagus, of Nimeguen, writing to Erasmus on November 12th of that year, says that his friend Theodoricus has undertaken to print it, and that Paludanus will show him “a cut of the island by a great artist,” in order that Erasmus may make any suggestions he may think necessary.[441] In Froben’s edition this “cut of the island” was drawn by Ambrosius Holbein, as also the charming little picture of Hythlodæus recounting his adventures in Utopia. As already stated, two of Hans Holbein’s designs were re-used for this work, the title-page with the children for the dedication to Ægidius, and the “Scævola” for More’s _Epigrams_, which were added to the volume, together with others by Erasmus, for which Urs Graf provided a title-page with the beheading of St. John the Baptist. The title-page to the book itself, with the story of Tarquin and Lucrece,[442] was designed by Ambrosius, who in this instance took a much more important share in the work of illustration than his brother, and he was possibly the “great artist” of whom Noviomagus spoke in his letter.

[Sidenote: THE TABLE OF CEBES]

The title-page for the Statute Book of Freiburg-im-Breisgau, published in 1520, with the beautiful design of the patron saints of that city on the back, has been already described.[443] It is more finely cut than most of these earlier book illustrations, as is also the title-page representing the “Table of Cebes” (Pl. 61), perhaps the most important work of the kind undertaken by Holbein before his connection with Lützelburger began.[444] The unknown cutter of this block has rendered Holbein’s design with considerable truth and artistic feeling. It is founded on the Πιναξ or “Table,” a philosophical work of Cebes of Thebes, the disciple and friend of Socrates, a book which enjoyed a great popularity. It gives an allegorical picture of human life, as explained by an old man to a circle of youths, and is intended to show that true happiness is only to be attained by the cultivation of the mind and the possession of real virtue. The “Picture” described in the book was shown to the sage in a temple of Chronos, and was a painting containing many figures, representing the progress of man towards the desired goal. Holbein has followed the text very closely. The whole picture is surrounded by a wall, which indicates the limits of human life. Outside this wall, at the bottom of the design, are groups of naked children, representing the souls of those who have not yet entered life. They are playing and fighting, and some are begging admittance of the old man, labelled “Genius,” who stands beneath the archway of the portal. On the right, within the first courtyard, is the winged, naked figure of Fortune on her rolling sphere, between two groups of people, on the one side those on whom she has smiled and on the other the unfortunate ones, who are railing at her; on the left is the seated figure of a woman, richly dressed, representing Seduction or Persuasion, with her attendant ladies as False Opinions. She holds out a gold cup to tempt the newcomer to life from the true path. Behind, gazing over the wall into the second courtyard, is the Traveller on life’s journey. He next encounters Avarice, Lust, Incontinence, and other pitfalls, all represented by small and characteristic groups of figures. Then, passing through a gate, he follows a winding road, encountering on the way Pain and Sorrow, the latter an old woman crouching in a ruined hut, who threatens him with a whip, until he is welcomed at a further gateway by Penitence, who holds out both hands in welcome. All danger, however, has not yet been overtaken, for within he meets with False Discipline, a grandly dressed lady and her attendants, but he gives her only a sidelong glance as he hastens forward. The road now becomes rougher and narrower, and he comes next upon a group of people engaged in the pursuit of all the arts and sciences, which they regard as the end of life. After this he has to clamber up steep rocks, which he does with the help of Fortitude and Courage, the latter holding a golden cup in either hand. Further on, at the entrance to the innermost enclosure, he kneels before True Discipline, who, in the guise of a saint, with a halo, stands on a small pedestal, attended by Truth and Conviction. From here he enters the Castle of True Happiness, and again kneels, this time to receive the laurel crown, the reward for his avoidance of all evil and error on his life’s journey, which is placed on his head by Happiness, who sits enthroned in the centre, in front of a castellated building. She wears a crown and holds a sceptre, and her head is surrounded by a halo of brilliant light. On either side are groups of the Virtues. Many of the small figures in this design have great charm, and the whole composition is well arranged and full of interest. Holbein has signed it on one of the stones of the wall in the lower left-hand corner with his initials in the form of a monogram, a small H within a larger one. This woodcut was first used in the edition of Tertullian published by Froben in 1521, and in the following year it formed the title-page of Erasmus’ Latin edition of the New Testament. It became very popular, and was frequently used for dictionaries, lexicons, and similar publications during the next sixty years, being copied and imitated by numerous printers.

VOL. I., PLATE 61.

[Sidenote: LUTHER’S NEW TESTAMENT]

The first fruits of the collaboration of Holbein and Lützelburger appeared in an edition of Luther’s German translation of the New Testament, which was issued by Adam Petri in Basel in December 1522. For this Holbein drew a very beautiful title-page,[445] which, although it bears no name or initials, is unmistakable in its authorship (Pl. 62). The sides of the design are occupied with niches within which stand St. Peter and St. Paul, grandly conceived figures of great nobility and dignity. St. Peter, on the left, has a great key in one hand, and an open book in the other, from which, with head and eyes cast down, he is reading. On the right is St. Paul, with a long, flowing beard, holding a sword across the open volume of his gospel. The architectural background is simple, with shell ornamentation behind the heads of the two saints. In the four corners of the page are the symbols of the four Evangelists—the Angel, Eagle, Lion, and Bull—which serve as heraldic supporters to the volumes of the gospels. In the centre at the top are the arms of Basel, with the motto “INCLYTA BASILEA,” and at the bottom is placed the printer’s mark, a naked child riding on a harnessed lion, and bearing a standard with Petri’s monogram, and antedated 1523, the background filled in with roses, a very fine design. A second edition of this folio volume was published in March 1523, and at the same time one in octavo. In the latter the title-page[446] closely follows the one in the folio edition, and the book is also embellished with other woodcuts of Holbein’s designing. On the first page of each gospel is a cut of the figure of the Evangelist enclosed within a framework of Renaissance design (Pl. 63).[447] The first three are each shown within a room, on the wall of which is a framed picture illustrating that part of the career of Christ most fully treated by the respective writers. St. Matthew looks up from his writing, and listens to the kneeling Angel, who raises a finger in admonition. The picture on the wall represents Christ in the manger, with Mary kneeling, and Joseph kindling a fire. St. Mark is seen from behind, deep in thought, the Lion crouching by his side. The picture hanging above him is of Christ rising from the Tomb. St. Luke, busily writing, wears a high cap, the Bull standing at the back of the desk. Christ on the Cross forms the subject of the picture on the wall. In each of these three pictures the Evangelist’s desk or writing-table and seat form an interesting feature, as each one is of a different design, and illustrates the furniture of Holbein’s own day. St. John is represented in the wilderness, seated among rocks, writing his gospel, his candle sheltered from the wind by stones, and the Eagle looking down upon it. Christ appears in glory in the sky over the distant mountains, and the saint is gazing up at the vision. This woodcut is without an ornamental framework. Four other designs by Holbein are included in the volume.[448] At the head of the Acts of the Apostles is a representation of the Outpouring of the Holy Spirit. The Epistle to the Romans is headed by the figure of St. Paul, preaching, his sword under his arm, beneath a richly-decorated portal. The other two represent the Conversion of Saul and St. Peter’s Vision of the Unclean Beasts, and there are also a number of initial letters (Pl. 63). The beautiful engraving of the title-page and many of the woodcuts points to the hand of Lützelburger, though none of them are signed by him. Another fine woodcut with the figure of St. Paul, with sword and book, standing within an architectural niche, is to be found in the Greek New Testament issued by T. Platter of Basel in 1540.[449]

VOL. I., PLATE 62.

VOL. I., PLATE 63.

In the same year, 1523, a second Basel publisher, Thomas Wolff, issued a quarto edition of Luther’s translation of the New Testament, in the decoration of which both Holbein and Lützelburger were employed. The title-page[450] shows Holbein’s fertility of invention, his power of dramatic representation, and his sense of style to the greatest advantage. In the centre of the upper border St. John is baptizing the Saviour in the river Jordan, the angel standing on the bank with his garments, and on either side are the symbols of the four Evangelists. The lower border contains Wolff’s device, a philosopher in a niche enjoining silence, his monogram, and the motto, “Digito Compesce Labellum,” and on either side of it the Vision of St. Peter and the Conversion of St. Paul, who, dressed in German costume, is flung from his horse. On the right-hand border St. Paul is shown on the island of Melita, shaking off the viper from his hand into the fire, and in the background the wreck of the ship; on the left-hand border is a representation of the Baptism of the Treasurer of the King of Ethiopia by St. Philip, while in the distance is depicted the journey of the same eunuch along a hilly road shaded by trees. He is riding in a small four-wheeled carriage, drawn by two horses tandem fashion, with the driver mounted on the after one—one of the methods of travelling in Holbein’s own day. This title-page is a masterpiece of the engraver’s art, and is signed “H.L.FVR.” on the footstool on which St. Paul is kneeling, in the lower border. Holbein also furnished twenty-one illustrations to the Revelation of St. John for the same edition,[451] which, however, for the most part were very badly cut, so that Lützelburger cannot have been the engraver of them. They were used again in Adam Petri’s folio New Testament of the same year. They are particularly interesting as representing the same subjects as those treated by Dürer in his first important work, which must have been known to Holbein, who, however, has borrowed very little in his rendering of the Visions. He shows less imagination and grandeur of conception than Dürer, but follows the text with even closer fidelity, and treats each subject with greater simplicity and clearness.[452] The last one of the series, the Angel showing the Saint the New Jerusalem (Pl. 70 (3)), contains a view of Lucerne with its covered bridge.

[Sidenote: THE “CREATION OF EVE”]

For Adam Petri’s reprint of Luther’s translation of the Old Testament, published in December 1523, for which a title-page was provided by Urs Graf, Holbein, in addition to numerous initial letters, was the designer of the large woodcut which was placed at the head of the first chapter of Genesis, representing the Creation of Eve,[453] a very beautiful conception, in which God the Father is uplifting Eve from the side of Adam, while a small angel tugs at his mantle. The earlier days of the Creation are also represented—the Earth as a small island with various animals upon it, surrounded by a strip of water containing fish, and round this again a ring of clouds and stars, and a final circle of angels, above whom the Almighty is shown again, blessing his work. In the four corners are placed the heads of the four winds. Several other illustrations were drawn by Holbein for this edition, but in most instances they are marred by bad cutting.

One of the finest of his designs for woodcuts is the one representing the Death of Cleopatra and the Sacrileges of Dionysius of Syracuse (Pl. 64),[454] first used by Froben in 1523 as the title-page for several works by Erasmus. The framework, in the form of a sculptured monument in the Italian style, is exceptional among Holbein’s work as a book-illustrator, being shown in marked perspective as though seen from the right. At the foot, beneath an arch, the dying Cleopatra, at full length on the ground, holds an asp in each hand. On either side is represented an act of sacrilege on the part of the Tyrant of Syracuse. On the right he is reaching up to pluck off the golden beard from the statue of Æsculapius, and on the left he is robbing the statue of Jupiter of its golden mantle and ornaments. Above the frieze on the top are Cupids riding on dolphins. The figures throughout are finely conceived, and the Italian influence is marked.

Another fine title-page of his designing was cut for Bugenhagen’s _Interpretation of the Psalms_, published by Petri in March 1524, and afterwards used in Münster’s _Cosmography_, and elsewhere, in which the principal subject is David dancing before the Ark;[455] and there are others of which the scope of this book does not permit any description.

Two important woodcuts, “Christ the True Light,” and “The Sale of Indulgences” (Pl. 65),[456] from their oblong shape were probably intended to be placed at the head of some broadsheet written by a supporter of the Reformation. In these designs, in which Lützelburger’s extraordinary skill in delicate and at the same time forcible use of the cutter’s knife has rendered with the utmost fidelity the beauty of Holbein’s line, the artist shows himself to have been in close sympathy with the new movement, in defence of which he brings to bear considerable powers of ridicule and satire. The rarity of these two prints is owing, no doubt, to the fact that the Basel Council maintained at that time a very severe censorship over all theological controversies, and strictly prohibited every publication or picture dealing with such debatable topics. These two woodcuts, therefore, attacking with merciless scorn the clergy, ecclesiastical abuses, and superstitions, would come under the ban of the Council, and, at the same time, every copy falling into the hands of the clerical party would be destroyed. Hence only three or four copies of each are known.

VOL. I., PLATE 64.

VOL. I., PLATE 65.

[Sidenote: THE “SALE OF INDULGENCES”]

The “Sale of Indulgences” is divided into two parts. On the right is shown the interior of a church, with the Pope enthroned, and surrounded by his cardinals. In the decorations of the building the arms of the Medici occur many times. Leo X is handing a letter of indulgence to a kneeling Dominican. In the choir-stalls on either side are seated a number of Church dignitaries. On the right, one of them rests his hand on the head of a kneeling youth and with a stick points to a large iron-bound chest for the money-offerings, into which a woman is putting her contribution. At a table on the left various Dominicans are preparing and selling indulgences. One of them repulses a beggar, who has nothing to give in exchange for the remission of his sins, while another is carefully checking the money which a suppliant is counting out on the table, and holding back the letter until the full amount has been received. The small figures are very lifelike, and the whole composition is a bitter satire upon the traffic of the Church. The left-hand half of the picture shows a landscape in which three true penitents are beseeching forgiveness from God the Father, who appears with outstretched arms in the clouds above them. Over the head of each figure is a label inscribed, “K. David,” “Manasses,” and “Offen-Synder,” respectively. The first-named kneels, with his harp by his side on the ground; the others stand with clasped hands and bowed heads.

The second sheet, called in the Amerbach inventory “Christus vera lux, philosophi et papa in foveam cadentes,” is divided into two halves by a magnificent candlestick which rises in the centre, the flame surmounted by a large halo of light. The stem contains sculptured figures of the four Evangelists, and the base is supported by their four symbols. On the left, Christ, a finely-conceived figure, points to the light with uplifted hand, and addresses a group of citizens, peasants, beggars, and other simple folk, who listen eagerly to his words. On the right, a procession of the clergy and learned men turn their backs upon the true light, and wander forth into the wilderness, led by Plato and Aristotle, the first of whom has stumbled into a deep pit, while the second is about to fall after him. They are followed by the Pope, a bishop, canons, and other churchmen, and monks of various orders, and a figure which appears to represent Erasmus. Behind them rise lofty snow mountains, while a distant city is seen across the plain in the centre, and trees on the left. This woodcut bears witness to the rapidly growing change in the point of view of the Reformers, who were already parting company with their former allies, the humanists and scholars. Holbein in this design gives expression to the popular feeling of his day in Basel, which was beginning to regard classical learning with suspicion as a supporter of the theology to which it was opposed. This woodcut was used in 1527 to illustrate a large broadsheet, the “Evangelistical Calendar” of Dr. Johannes Copp.

Holbein’s fertility of invention in this field was not confined to subjects chosen from the Bible or from classical literature. Numerous woodcuts occur in which he has made excellent use of incidents taken from the ordinary life of his day. There is a well-known border representing a group of peasants chasing a fox which has stolen a goose from the farmyard, an engraving on metal, which, in spite of the inferiority of the cutting, is full of humour and rapid movement.[457] The small figures, carrying flails, spades, and other hastily snatched-up weapons—among them a girl with a hayrake on her shoulder and a soldier with his spear—are running at full speed, while behind them an old man, leaning on a stick, stands among the remaining geese and shouts directions for the fox’s capture. Another border shows a peasants’ dance,[458] very similar in treatment to the same subject in the wall-painting of the House of the Dance. These two borders, with two side ones, representing children climbing trees, were frequently used by Cratander of Basel in books published between 1526 and 1534, and a second “Peasants’ Dance”[459] is often found in Adam Petri’s publications. Similar borders with dancing or playing children frequently occur. Most of them appear to have been cut in metal by Faber.

[Sidenote: ALPHABETS WITH PEASANTS & CHILDREN]

Both peasants and children were favourite themes with him in his designs for initial letters, which formed an important part of the decoration of the books issued from the Basel presses. He produced a number of complete alphabets, from A to Z, in which the little pictures which surrounded the letters formed a connected series of designs. Almost invariably the letter itself was shown in plain Roman type, placed within a small square, the background being filled in with small figures which have no actual connection with the letter, but are so combined with it as to produce a very decorative effect. One of the most beautiful of these alphabets, of which complete proof-sheets are to be found at Basel and Dresden, represents the merry-makings of a rustic fair,[460] and was used by both Froben and Cratander. The series opens with two musicians playing bagpipes, and the ten next letters represent dancing couples. In succeeding letters the peasants are represented making love, fighting, playing games and practical jokes, drinking, and other scenes in which the humour is too gross for modern tastes, and concluding with the return from the fair, the peasant riding home with his wife behind him, and the visit of the doctor on the following morning, made necessary by over-indulgence in merry-making. The cutting of the set is so beautiful that it must be from the hand of Lützelburger; no other engraver then working in Basel was capable of such minutely fine work, or could do such full justice to Holbein’s genius for filling such small spaces with designs which appear so spacious and so large in style.

Another alphabet, which was evidently also cut by Lützelburger and used by Cratander, of which there is a proof-sheet at Basel, is devoted to the games of children.[461] They are represented dancing, playing music, tilting on hobby-horses, riding on one another’s backs, hair-pulling, wrestling, and so on, while in one instance a small boy is chasing a cat with a bird in its mouth. Holbein was always very happy in his treatment of children, and in this instance, as in the Peasants’ Alphabet, the delicacy of the execution is wonderful. There are three other alphabets dealing with children, and portions of others,[462] in one of which they are engaged in various trades and employments, and appear as carpenters, millers, masons, fishermen, bakers, painters, doctors, and so on. Another alphabet gives scenes from the Old Testament,[463] and a second consists of Greek initials.[464] Other letters, far too numerous to enumerate here, represent ornaments, flowers, animals, still life, love scenes, and soldiers. The most famous series of all, however, is the one known as the “Alphabet of Death,” which is described in the next chapter.

[Sidenote: WOODCUTS PRODUCED IN ENGLAND]

Holbein also designed a number of marks or devices for the various printers who employed him, which were used on the first and last pages of their publications. For Johann Bebelius he drew a palm-tree with a heavy weight pressing down the branches among which it is placed; in a second design for the same publisher a naked man is shown beneath this weight, who attempts with hands and feet to resist the pressure.[465] Cratander’s trade-mark was Fortune or Opportunity, a naked goddess, with long flowing hair and winged feet, poised on a revolving ball, a broad-bladed knife in her hand. Valentine Curio’s device was the Table of Parrhasius, a hand drawing[466] on a panel one straight line between two others, enclosed, like the mark of Cratander, within an ornamented shield. For Thomas Wolff[467] Holbein drew the figure of a scholar or publisher issuing from a doorway, his finger on his lips enjoining silence, with the inscription: “Digito compesce labellum.” The devices of Matthias Bienenvater or Apiarius of Berne and Christopher Froschover of Zürich, contain punning allusions to their name. The former[468] represents a bear climbing a tree after honey, with the bees swarming round him; for the latter[469] Holbein made three different designs, each one containing frogs. In one the frogs are climbing a tree, with a beautiful landscape background of hills and peasants’ houses, the whole within a Renaissance framework, and evidently cut by Lützelburger; in the two others a boy is represented riding on a large frog, one of them with a background representing the Lake of Zürich, with villages at the foot of the mountains, and the other with a hilly landscape with a castle on a height. Lastly, a very beautiful device made for Reinhold Wolfe[470] appears to have been produced during Holbein’s last residence in England, though the cutting of the block was most probably done in Basel. It represents three boys flinging sticks into an appletree laden with fruit, and bears his motto “Charitas.”[471] Wolfe, who was settled in London, was possibly some relation of Thomas Wolff, the Basel publisher, and so may have sent his book illustrations to Switzerland to be engraved. This particular device, in any case, is too finely cut to have been done in England at that period. Wolfe was the publisher of John Leland’s _Naeniæ_, which contained a woodcut portrait of Sir Thomas Wyat after Holbein,[472] and also of the same writer’s poem on the birth of the Prince of Wales, which was not issued until 1543. On the back of the title-page of the last publication is the device of the Prince, “Ich Dien” under a crown of ostrich feathers, within a halo, which appears to be after a design by Holbein.[473] A few other woodcuts which date from the artist’s last residence in England are referred to in a later chapter.[474]