Erasmus of Rotterdam

Hans Holbein was the court painter of Henry VIII and probably executed the drawing for this allegorical woodcut of the humanist Desiderius Erasmus while the scholar lived in England. Set within a classicizing trellis, with antique sculptures rather than books, it refers to the writer’s passion for antiquity. Another portrait of Erasmus on display in this gallery, by Albrecht Dürer, was supposedly made from life, but it is equally formal and removed from the sitter. Erasmus wears a similar scholar’s cap and richly textured robe in both images, a habit denoting his profession and wealth.