HANS HOLBEIN THE YOUNGER
138 Portrait of a Scholar or Cleric
Point of brush and black ink and black chalk on pink pre-
pared paper; H: 21.9 cm (8^5 /s in.); W: 18.5 cm (7 Vi in.)
84.00.93
MARKS AND INSCRIPTIONS: At top left corner, in-
scribed HH in black chalk with pricked H at right of
initials.
PROVENANCE: William, second duke of Devonshire,
Chatsworth; by descent to the current duke (sale, Chris-
tie's, London, July 3, 1984, lot 70).EXHIBITIONS: Old Master Drawings from Chatsworth,
Arts Council Gallery, London, 1949, no. 52 (catalogue
by A. E. Popham). Exhibitions of Works by Holbein and
other Masters of the i6th and ijth Centuries, Royal Academy
of Arts, London, 1950-1951, no. 125 (catalogue of draw-
ings by K. T. Parker et al.). Old Master Drawings from
Chatsworth, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.,
and other institutions, 1962-1963, no. 105 (catalogue by
A. E. Popham). Between Renaissance and Baroque: Euro-
pean Art, 1520-1600, City Art Gallery, Manchester,
March-April 1965, no. 322 (catalogue by F. Gross-
mann). Old Master Drawings from Chatsworth, Royal
Academy of Arts, London, July-August 1969, no. 105
(catalogue by A. E. Popham). Old Master Drawings from
Chatsworth, National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo,
1975, no. 91. Old Master Drawings: A Loan from the Col-
lection of the Duke of Devonshire, Israel Museum, Jerusa-
lem, April-July 1977, no. 45. Treasures from Chatsworth:
The Devonshire Inheritance, Virginia Museum of Fine
Arts, Richmond, and other institutions, 1979-1980, no.
90 (catalogue by A. Blunt et al.).
BIBLIOGRAPHY: J. D. Passavant, Tour of a German Artist
in England (London, 1836), vol. 2, p. 146; G. F. Waagen,
Works of Art and Artists in England (London, 1838), vol. 3,
p. 236; A. Woltmann, Holbein und seine Zeit (Leipzig,
1874-1876), no. 140; S. Strong, Reproductions of Draw-
ings by Old Masters in the Collection of the Duke of Devon-
shire at Chatsworth (London, 1902), p. 16; "A Drawing by
Holbein in the Collection of the Duke of Devonshire,"
Burlington Magazine i (March-May 1903), pp. 223-224;
S. A. Strong, Critical Studies and Fragments (London,
1905), p. 133; A. B. Chamberlain, Hans Holbein the
Younger (London, 1913), vol. i, pp. 336-337; J. Roberts,
Holbein and the Court of Henry VIII, exh. cat., Queen's
Gallery, London, 1978, p. 13; idem, Holbein (London,
1979), p-93, no. 83.THIS PORTRAIT OF A STILL UNIDENTIFIED MAN, TAKEN
to be a scholar or cleric on account of his hat, has been
recognized as a work of Holbein's second English period
since Chamberlain (1913, pp. 336-337). More recently,
Roberts (1978, p. 13) has suggested that the sheet once
may have been part of the "Great Booke" of Holbein
portrait drawings, first known in the collection of Lord
Lumley and later belonging to the earl of Arundel, most
of which are now in the Royal Library, Windsor. Given
the many features of style, technique, and scale shared by
this sheet and the other drawings from that group, Rob-
erts' proposal has much to recommend it.
The drawing was first sketched quite freely in black
chalk and then drawn over in ink with a pen as well as a
brush. In the process of adding ink, Holbein made cer-
tain clear alterations in the design. The most notable of
these are in the outline of the hat and in the part of the
cloak just behind the subject's head, which has been low-
ered substantially and extended backward. The ink pas-
sages are both of the highest quality and fundamental to
the evolution of the image, so that no question regarding
their attribution to Holbein is possible.^1 The fine pen
strokes used in the eyes, mouth, and chin are varied and
subtle and include small dots to suggest the stubble of an
incipient beard. The broader strokes of the brush appar-
ent in the hat, hair, and drapery were achieved with
painterly freshness. In the hair at the back of the neck
Holbein made a further change, adding the locks that curl
upwards toward the hat. The varied elements in ink find
parallels in a number of other portraits of the artist's sec-
ond English period.^21. Only Grossmann (1965, no. 322) has suggested that the pas-
sages in ink as well as the chalk in the hat are later retouchings.
He has cited with approval M. JafFe's attribution of these details
to Rubens. These hypotheses are entirely lacking in technical,
stylistic, or historical plausibility and have not been taken up
elsewhere.- K. T. Parker, The Drawings of Holbein at Windsor Castle (Lon-
don, 1945), nos. 15, 22, 24, 32, 59.
308 GERMAN SCHOOL • HOLBEIN