Chapter 2

HOLBEIN BASILIENSIS (1519-1526)

_Holbein Basiliensis_--Enters the Painters' Guild--Bonifacius Amerbach and his portrait--The Last Supper and its Judas--The so-called "Fountain of Life" at Lisbon--Genius for design and symbolism in architecture--Versatility, humour, fighting scenes--Holbein becomes a citizen and marries--Basel in 1519--Froben's circle--Tremendous events and issues of the time--Holbein's religious works--The Nativity and Adoration at Freiburg--Hans Oberriedt--The Basel Passion in eight panels--Passion Drawings--Christ in the tomb--Christ and Mary Magdalen at the door of the sepulchre--Rathaus wall-paintings--Birth of Holbein's eldest child--The Solothurn Madonna: its discovery and rescue--Holbein's wife and her portraits--Suggested solutions of some biographical enigmas--Title pages--Portraits of Erasmus--Journey to France, probably to Lyons and Avignon--Publishers and pictures of the so-called "Dance of Death"--Dorothea Offenburg as Venus and Laïs Corinthiaca--Triumph of the Protestant party--Holbein decides to leave Basel for a time--The Meyer-Madonna of Darmstadt and Dresden, and its portraits 45