Two fine preliminary designs for the “Rehoboam” and the “Samuel and Saul” form part of the Amerbach Collection, drawings which may have been made as early as 1521. Among the few fragments of the original wall-paintings preserved in the Basel Gallery, there are two showing the head and the raised hand with pointing little finger of Rehoboam (No. 328) (Pl. [92] (3)),[[789]] the head being drawn in profile, whereas in the study it is full face, indicating a change in the design when carried out on the wall. In the centre of the composition, as shown in the drawing (Pl. [93]),[[790]] King Rehoboam, seated upon a lofty throne beneath a rich canopy backed by a curtain decorated with a fleur-de-lys device, bends forward, his left hand stretched before him in vehement action, with little finger extended towards the group of Israelitish elders standing below him, some of whom turn away in despair. With his right hand he points to a scourge held by an attendant on the left. The moment depicted is when he cries out in a rage: “My little finger shall be thicker than my father’s loins; my father hath chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with scorpions.” Behind the throne, within the rails enclosing a large vaulted chamber in the Renaissance style, are a number of figures, on the one side the older councillors who had served his father, Solomon, whose advice he neglected, and on the other the younger courtiers whose bad counsel he followed. On the right of the composition is a glimpse of a hilly landscape, with the Crowning of Jeroboam by the revolted tribes in the middle distance. The drawing is washed in Indian ink, with touches of colour in the sky, in the circular openings at the back of the hall, in the landscape, the faces of the figures, and the rails and the floor. The story is told very simply and clearly, but with considerable dramatic force, such as would make an instant appeal to those for whom the lesson it contained was intended. The figures are rather short and stumpy, a fault to be noticed in many of Holbein’s earlier designs for books, wall-paintings, and painted glass; but the composition is a dignified one, and the large painting based upon it must have been a noble work. As stated above, the fragments of the original painting which have been preserved show that Holbein deviated from the sketch in essential points. The head of Rehoboam, which is a masterpiece of strong expression, is seen in sharp profile. There are also in the same Gallery two fragments containing groups of heads of the Israelite Messengers (No. 329) (Pl. [92] (1 and 2)).[[791]] Traces of gold are still visible on these remains of the original work, showing that Holbein made use of gilding in wall-paintings as well as in portraits.
“THE MEETING OF SAMUEL AND SAUL”
The wall-painting of “Samuel and Saul” was the largest of all the decorations in the Council Chamber, and that it was painted side by side with the “Rehoboam” on the only wall in the room unbroken by door or window is evident from the fact that in the sketches the same dividing column appears in both. It was probably about 7 or 8 feet high by 16 or 17 feet long, and if the same proportion was preserved in both designs, the “Rehoboam” must have been about 13 feet long. The moment chosen for representation is the return of Saul from his conquest of the Amalekites, and his meeting with the Prophet Samuel. Instead of obeying the command of God, and destroying men, women, children, and flocks, he has spared them, and carried them and much spoil away with him. Samuel has come forth in anger, and Saul, perceiving him, has dismounted, and advances to meet him bent in reverence. The prophet heaps reproaches upon him. “Hath the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Because thou hast rejected the word of the Lord, He hath also rejected thee from being king.” The right half of the composition is crowded with foot-soldiers and horsemen, wearing Roman helmets, among whom the conquered King Agag is borne captive. In the distance are seen the captured herds and flocks, and the burning villages on the hillsides. The composition is a finely-balanced one, and the noble, menacing figure of the Prophet is well contrasted with the cringing figure of the King, conscious, now that the flush of victory is passing, that he has failed to fulfil the sacred commands. The army behind him is most effectively grouped, and the soldiers’ lances, seen darkly against the sky, produce much the same effect of grandeur and of numbers as in Velazquez’s great picture. In the left upper corner is a long white tablet—no doubt in the finished painting it was shown hanging from the painted framework surrounding the picture—on which the Latin text, quoted by Tonjola, was inscribed.
The sketch (No. 347) (Pl. [94])[[792]] has been slightly washed with colour, blue in the sky, the stream in the middle distance, the trees, and the hills, and brown over the landscape, which combines with the blue to produce green in the trees and hillsides, while the flames from the burning villages are bright red. The figures are drawn in brown and shaded with a wash of cool grey. It is not possible from this, however, to gain much idea of the actual colouring of the wall-painting, but, from the darting flames and the volumes of heavy smoke rolling across the sky and blotting out a part of the landscape, it is possible that the general effect attempted was one of strong contrasts of chiaroscuro, such as are to be seen in the Basel Passion picture. Still, the sketch, small as it is, affords ample evidence of the greatness of Holbein’s power of design in large compositions crowded with figures, and emphasizes the seriousness of the loss suffered through the destruction of the whole of his wall-paintings and larger decorative works.
Vol. I., Plate 94.
SAMUEL AND SAUL
Study for the wall-painting in the Basel Town Hall
Pen drawing in brown touched with water-colour
Basel Gallery
Beyond the Town Hall frescoes, little remains to show in what manner he was employed during the remainder of his stay in Basel. There is a fine design for a dagger-sheath, richly decorated with Renaissance ornament, in the Basel Gallery, dated 1529 (Pl. [45] (1), Vol. ii.);[[793]] but this is the only work of the kind that can be given definitely to this period, though possibly some of the other designs for dagger-sheaths and bands of ornament in the Basel Gallery, described in a later chapter,[[794]] were made during these years. He also produced a number of designs for woodcuts, among them a series of illustrations for the Cosmography and several astronomical works by Sebastian Münster of Munich, published by Heinrich Petri. Münster was in Basel in the autumn of 1529, and it is possible, so Dr. Ganz suggests,[[795]] that his fellow-townsman, Niklaus Kratzer, whose portrait Holbein had so recently painted, drew his attention to the artist’s skill in the delineation of scientific and mathematical instruments, such as Münster required for the illustration of his books. In this way, no doubt, the author and the artist came into personal contact. Holbein drew for him a number of fine designs, such as figures representing the signs of the Zodiac, drawings of sun-dials, and a variety of mathematical and astronomical instruments, and a great astronomical table, first published in 1534, but starting from the year 1530, with ornamental accessories and representations of the four seasons, a work of great beauty.[[796]]
He also painted a new portrait of Erasmus, most probably in Freiburg, for the portrait at Parma, which is one of the best of various almost contemporary copies, is dated 1530. The small circular picture in the Basel Gallery is very possibly the original study painted directly from the sitter. These portraits and the roundel of Melanchthon in the Provinzial Museum at Hanover, which is probably of the same period, have been described in a previous chapter.[[797]]
REPAINTING OF RHINE GATE CLOCK