ent, in colouring, and
in the actual art of painting--in which his father had thoroughly
instructed him--Holbein is to be placed above Duerer. That he did not
rival the great Italians of his time in "historical" painting can only
be ascribed to the circumstances of his life in Germany, where such
subjects were not in fashion.

Of his pictures executed before he left his native country the greater
number are at Basle and Augsburg, and are therefore less familiar to the
general public than his later works. A notable exception is the famous
_Meyer Madonna_, the original of which is at Darmstadt, but a version
now relegated, somewhat harshly, to the "copyist" is in the Dresden
Gallery, and certainly exhibits as much of the spirit of the master as
will serve for an example of his powers. It represents the Virgin as
Queen of Heaven, standing in a niche, with the Child in her arms, and
with the family of the Burgomaster Jacob Meyer of Basle kneeling on
either side of her. With the utmost life and truth to nature, which
brings these kneeling figures actually into our presence, says Kugler,
there is combined in a most exquisite degree an expression of great
earnestness, as if the mind were fixed on some lofty object. This is
shown not merely by the introduction of divine beings into the circle of
human sympathies, but particularly in the relation so skilfully
indicated between the Holy Virgin and her worshippers, and in her
manifest desire to communicate to those who are around her the sacred
peace and tranquillity expressed in her own countenance and attitude,
and implied in the infantine grace of the Saviour. In the direct union
of the divine with the human, and in their reciprocal harmony, there is
involved a devout and earnest purity of feeling such as only the older
masters were capable of representing.

Another of his most beautiful pictures painted in Germany is the
portrait of Erasmus, dated 1523. This was sent by Erasmus to Sir Thomas
More, at Chelsea, with a letter recommending Holbein to his care, and as
it is still in this country--in the collection of the Earl of Radnor at
Longford Castle--it is not perhaps too much to hope that it may one of
these days find its way into the National Gallery--perhaps when the
alterations to the front entrance are completed. This picture has for a
very long time been regarded as one of Holbein's very finest portraits.
Mr W. Barclay Squire, in the sumptuous catalogue of the Radnor
c