About the Artwork
Although Hans Holbein the Younger was a German painter, he spent little time in his homeland after commissions for paintings, religious and otherwise, became scarce in Protestant Germany. He settled permanently in London in 1532, and, as court painter during the reign of Henry VIII, specialized in portraying royalty and landed gentry.
The English style of clothing suggests that Holbein painted this thoughtful portrait of a gentlewoman during the 1530s. The painting is startlingly plain, without informative attributes that might identify the sitter. The artist has concentrated on the woman’s personality as expressed in carriage and demeanor, thereby underscoring inner qualities rather than superficial ones.
Portrait of a Woman
between 1532 and 1534
Hans Holbein the Younger
1497-1543
German
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Tempera and oil on oak panel
Unframed: 9 1/8 × 7 1/2 inches (23.2 × 19.1 cm) Framed: 15 5/8 × 13 5/8 × 1 1/2 inches (39.7 × 34.6 × 3.8 cm)
Paintings
European Painting
Bequest of Eleanor Clay Ford
77.81
Public Domain
Markings
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Provenance
Earl of Lonsdale (Lowther Castle, Penrith, England);1930, (Duveen Brothers, New York, New York, USA);
1930, Mr. & Mrs. Edsel Ford (Grosse Pointe, Michigan, USA);
Eleanor Clay Ford;
1977-present, bequest to the Detroit Institute of Arts (Detroit, Michigan, USA)
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Provenance pageExhibition History
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The exhibition history of a number of objects in our collection only begins after their acquisition by the museum, and may reflect an incomplete record.
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Waagan, G. Treasures of Art in Great Britain: Being an Account of the Chief Collections of Paintings, Drawings, Sculptures, Illuminated Mss., 3 vols. London, 1854-1857, p. 264, Letter XXVII.
Dodgson, C. "A New Portrait of An Englishwoman by Holbein." Burlington Magazine 53 (September 1928): p. 105 (ill.).
Kuhn, C.L. A Catalogue of German Paintings of the Middle Ages and Renaissance in American Collections. Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1936, p. 82, no. 365, (pl. 76).
Ganz, P. "A Note on a Holbein Portrait." Art Quarterly 1 (1938): pp. 58-60 (ill.).
Masterpieces of Art from European and American Collections: European Paintings from the Two World's Fairs of 1939. Detroit, 1941, p. 12, cat. 31 (ill.).
Ganz, P. The Paintings of Hans Holbein. London, 1950, p. 245, cat. 82 (ill.).
Bulletin of the DIA 56, no. 5: Annual Report (1978): pp. 258, 261, 275 (fig. 1).
Baetjer, K. "A Portrait by Holbein the Younger." Bulletin of the DIA 57, no. 1 (1979): pp. 24-29, (ill.).
"La Chronique des Arts." Supplement to Gazette des Beaux Arts, no. 1323 (April 1979): p. 35, no. 173 (ill.).
Cummings, Frederick J., ed. Selected Works from the Detroit Institute of Arts. Detroit, 1979, pp. 56, 69, no. XII (ill.).
Rowlands, J. Holbein The Paintings of Hans Holbein the Younger. Oxford, 1985, p. 142, cat. 54, (pl. 89).
100 Masterworks from the Detroit Institute of Arts. New York, 1985, pp. 98-99 (ill.).
Foister, S. Holbein and England. New Haven and London, 2004, p. 254 (fig. 255).
Secrest, Meryle. Duveen: A Life in Art. New York, 2004, p. 449.
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Credit Line for Reproduction
Hans Holbein the Younger, Portrait of a Woman, between 1532 and 1534, tempera and oil on oak panel. Detroit Institute of Arts, Bequest of Eleanor Clay Ford, 77.81.
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