Renaissance Lives | 'Holbein: the Artist in a Changing World'

Jeanne Nuechterlein (University of York) in conversation with Alexander Marr (Cambridge)

Immensely skillful and inventive, Hans Holbein moulded his approach to art-making during a period of dramatic transformation in European society and culture: the emergence of humanism, the impact of the Reformation on religious life and the effects of new scientific discoveries. Most people have encountered Holbein’s work – Henry VIII was forever defined for posterity by his memorable portrait – but little is widely known about the artist himself.

This overview of Holbein looks at his art through the changes in the world around him. Offering insightful and often surprising new interpretations of visual and historical sources that have rarely been addressed, Jeanne Nuechterlein reconstructs what we know of the life of this elusive figure, illuminating the complexity of his world and the images he generated.

Renaissance Lives is a series of biographies published by Reaktion Books(Opens in new window) as well as a series of conversations discussing the ways in which individuals transmitted or changed the lives of traditions, ideas and images.

[susannahwight]

Thank you! So illuminating, thank you very much both of you.