Hans Holbein Influence

“It had long since come to my attention that people of accomplishment rarely sat back and let things happen to them. They went out and happened to things,” (Leonardo da Vinci). Hans Holbein accomplished much in his lifetime, and as da Vinci said, he didn’t sit back, but instead approached what he wanted to achieve in life head on. Holbein the Younger learned from his father, who was a skilled painter himself. He grew up in Basle, a center of learning that was well known in that time. He soon rose among German artists, becoming the most respected painter who spoke German. But when the turmoil of the Reformation hit the North, Holbein decided to move to England, where he soon became a household name. Perhaps the painting of Georg Gisze, a German merchant in London isn’t his most well known painting, but in my opinion, it is his best masterpiece. Georg Gisze, a German merchant in London now resides in Gemäldegalerie, Staatliche Museen, Berlin. The spirit of the renaissance is a set of ideals-including Scientific
Composition it the arrangement of elements in art to create one flowing finished product. This is shown in Holbein’s painting of the German merchant. The shape of the man is one of a triangle, with his head being the top angle, and his arms reaching out to create the two side angles. The shape of Holbein’s painting draws attention to the face of the merchant, which is very unique. Georg Gisze has a large, hooked nose, and an apprehensive expression. The use of composition in Holbein’s painting reflects the spirit of the renaissance by expressing individualism. Georg Gisze has an unique and individualistic face, and Holbein decided to focus on him and his unique flaws. Not only did he draw Georg’s nose in all of it’s uniqueness, but he choose to draw attention to it by creating the composition in a triangle, with the focus being Georg’s