Merchants, a scholar and Death
Hans Holbein the Younger
Hans Holbein’s portraits, from a young man of Lucerne in 1517 to the German merchants he painted in London. Benedikt von Hertenstein in a red cap under a painted frieze, Hermann von Wedigh and Derick Berck in black against blue and green, Erasmus, hands folded, in a fur collar. Then two small woodcuts from the Dance of Death, where a skeleton drags off the abbot and leads an old man to the doctor. A copy and a workshop roundel hang with them.
As a puzzle
Calm, clear builds. Start from the faces and hands, then the gold letters, the books and the papers on the tables. The black coats and the even blue and green grounds come last, so keep the count moderate. The two woodcuts are close black lines on pale paper with nothing to sort by colour: follow the hatching and the bones from piece to piece, and keep those low.
A good size here: 50–200 pieces.
Also filed under Northern Renaissance
Subjects here: Portraits
6 pictures, pick one to build
Benedikt von Hertenstein (born about 1495, died 1522) 1517 
Hermann von Wedigh III (died 1560) 1532 
Erasmus of Rotterdam Hans Holbein the Younger and Workshop(?), ca. 1532 
Derick Berck of Cologne 1536 
The Abbot, from "The Dance of Death" ca. 1526, published 1538 
The Doctor (or Physician), from "The Dance of Death" ca. 1526, published 1538