Hans Holbein the Younger, opportunities for commissions…
1532 CE
Hans Holbein the Younger, opportunities for commissions in Basel having dried up, returns in 1532 to London, this time to stay.
His first commissions, such as the portrait of Georg Gisze, come from German businessmen in England, but acquaintanceship with royal minister Thomas Cromwell soon gains him entry to court circles.
Holbein paints this large portrait at the beginning of his second period in England in search of work, and it may be intended as a virtuoso showpiece for his gifts in portraiture and the depiction of objects and textures.
It is the most sumptuous of his series of portraits of mainly German merchants of the Steelyard, a complex of offices, warehouses, and residences on the north bank of the Thames in London.
The merchants, familiar with Holbein's wider reputation, are quick to take advantage of his presence in London.
The Danzig merchant Georg Gisze (or Giese) is shown among the paraphernalia of his trade: money, pen, seal, inkpots, balance, boxes, scissors, keys.
On a table covered with a Turkey rug stands a vase of carnations, perhaps symbolizing his betrothal (Gisze will marry Christine Krüger in Danzig in 1535).
On the surface, the picture appears super-realistic; but on closer inspection it contains a series of deliberate optical paradoxes.
The walls, for example, are not at a right angle, and the table, as shown in the bottom right of the painting, where objects overhang its edge, is not rectangular.
Certain objects on the table are not painted flat to the surface, and the vase and the money tin are precariously positioned.
The overlapping of the book by the note, or cartellino, fixed to the wall by sealing wax, is an optical illusion given the bulk of the book.
The balance hangs unstably from the shelf; and next to it is inscribed Gisze's motto: "Nulla sine merore voluptas" (no pleasure without regret), implying a symbolic connection with the scales.
Images
Hans Holbein the Younger: The Merchant Georg Gisze (1532); oil on oak; 86.2 cm (33.9 in) x 97.5 cm (38.4 in). Gemäldegalerie, Berlin
Locations
Regions
North Europe
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