The Story
Terminus, the Device of Erasmus, c. 1532. Hans Holbein the Younger (German, active England and Switzerland, 1497/98–1543). Oil on wood; framed: 32.4 x 32.4 x 4.5 cm (12 3/4 x 12 3/4 x 1 3/4 in.); unframed: 21.6 x 21.6 cm (8 1/2 x 8 1/2 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift of Dr. and Mrs. Sherman E. Lee in memory of Milton S. Fox, 1971.166
Created in 1532 during the Renaissance period, this work belongs firmly within the portrait tradition. Hans Holbein the Younger worked at a moment when the rivalry between Catholic Baroque drama and Protestant restraint reshaped what a painting could mean. Every gesture, fabric, and gleam of light was decoded by contemporary viewers like a private language.
Executed in oil on wood, measuring Framed: 32.4 x 32.4 x 4.5 cm (12 3/4 x 12 3/4 x 1 3/4 in.); Unframed: 21.6 x 21.6 cm (8 1/2 x 8 1/2 in.), the surface rewards close looking. Hans Holbein the Younger builds the composition through layered glazes and a tightly controlled palette, letting cool shadows recede so that the warm, lit passages step forward. The brushwork shifts from the precise to the almost dissolved — a hallmark of mature Baroque practice.
“A silence so complete it becomes its own witness.”
