Hans Holbein the Younger was an eminent German painter known for his precisely rendered portraits. Along with his peers Lucas Cranach the Elder and Albrecht Dürer, Holbein’s work represented a high point for Northern Renaissance painting. The artist eloquently combined the nuance of Flemish realism with the rigid structure of Late Gothic stylization. Born c. 1497 in Augsburg, Holy Roman Empire (present-day Germany), he first studied under his father Hans Holbein the Elder, before moving to Basel, Switzerland around 1515. During his time in Basel, he befriended a number of humanist writers and publishers who promoted and commissioned his work. With the Protestant Reformation taking hold of Basel, in 1526, the artist left the city for England. His connections with humanist circles brought him to the attention of the writer and politician Thomas More, who commissioned a portrait of himself. Though he returned to Switzerland periodically, by 1533 Holbein had established himself as the favorite painter of Henry VIII. That same year, he completed his famed double portrait The Ambassadors. During his remaining years in court, he produced around 150 portraits, including those of Henry VIII’s wives Jane Seymour and Anne of Cleves. Holbein died of plague in 1543, in London, United Kingdom. Today, the artist’s works are held in the collections of the Louvre Museum in Paris, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the National Gallery of Art in London, and the Kunstmuseum Basel, among others.