Portrait of Erasmus of Rotterdam Writing (canvas without frame)

Hans Holbein the Younger, a Renaissance painter and engraver, was born in Augsburg, Bavaria. The son and younger brother of painters, he trained in the family workshop, one of the most renowned in the city, from an early age. Originally based in Basel, Switzerland, he created portraits of the high bourgeois merchants and men of letters. A trip to France allowed Hans Holbein the Younger to discover Leonardo da Vinci and his famous "three-pencil" technique, consisting of drawing portraits in black ink, blood and white chalk. He then moved to London where he continued to portray the elites of the time. His art combines meticulousness and mastery of human expressions, as evidenced by The Ambassadors (1533), one of his major works.