Of Holbein's life we unfortunately know very little. He showed his
talent early, as all the great painters have done. Conscious of his
abilities, he devoted himself eagerly to the study of the profession to
which his genius urged him. He learned not only painting, but engraving,
the sculpture of metals, and architecture; and of all these, it will be
remembered, Bale offered him facilities for study, in examples which
must have stimulated both his imagination and his ambition. He did not
lack encouragement; for the nobles and burghers of Bale had begun to
acquire a taste for the arts, which their ruder fathers contemned; and
they had, at this time, a university in their city, which made them
acquainted with Cicero and the orators, of whom Aeneas Sylvius found
them so ignorant.
But Holbein, although eminent and well employed, did not thrive. He had
some Balois failings, and, as Aeneas Sylvius would have said, worshipped
Father Bacchus and Dame Venus with too much devotion;--not that he was
a drunkard or a debauchee; but he sought in conviviality with men of
talent, and in the company of beautiful women, too happy in the caresses
of the great painter, who was generous with his florins, that happiness
which he could not find at home.
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