Hans Holbein the Younger

Hans Holbein the Younger (c. 1497–1543) was a German painter and printmaker, born in Augsburg and trained in Basel, where his portraits of Erasmus made his name. As the Reformation reached Basel he worked for reformist and traditional religious patrons. He first reached England in 1526 with Erasmus's recommendation and worked in Thomas More's humanist circle, then settled there from 1532 under Thomas Cromwell's patronage.

By 1535 he was King's Painter to Henry VIII, portraying the court and designing royal jewellery and decorations. He died in London late in 1543, leaving the defining image of the Tudor age.