ID: 700000207 Page link: http://vocab.getty.edu/page/cona/700000207	Record Type: Movable Work

Portrait of Georg Gisze (painting (visual work); Hans Holbein the Younger (German painter, 1497/1498-1543); 1532; Gemäldegalerie (Berlin, Berlin state, Germany); 586;)

Note: Holbein painted this large portrait at the beginning of his second period in England in search of work, and it may be intended as a virtuoso showpiece for his gifts in portraiture and the depiction of objects and textures. It is the most sumptuous of his series of portraits of mainly German merchants of the Steelyard, a complex of offices, warehouses, and residences on the north bank of the Thames in London. It illustrates Holbein's interest in the distinction between illusion and reality. The establishment of illusion is done by such means as the virtuoso treatment of Gisze’s sleeve shown through the curved surface of a glass vase of flowers is contradicted by such details as the unexpectedly cutaway corner of the table and by the inclusion of a cartellino, which might be attached to the wall or to the painting’s surface. A series of inscriptions and other, probably symbolic, details invoke the idea of the instability of life.

Titles:

Portrait of Georg Gisze (preferred,C,U,English-P,U,U)

Portrait of the Merchant Georg Gisze (C,U,English,U,U)

Der Kaufmann Georg Gisze (C,U,German-P,U,U)

Catalog Level: item

Work Types:

painting (visual work) [300033618] (preferred)

..... (Objects Facet, Visual and Verbal Communication (hierarchy name), Visual Works (hierarchy name), visual works (works), <visual works by material or technique>)

Classifications:

paintings (preferred)

Creation Date: 1532

Creator Display:

Hans Holbein the Younger (German painter, 1497/1498-1543) [preferred,VP]

painter Holbein, Hans (German painter, 1497/1498-1543, active in Switzerland and England) [500005259]

Locations:

Current: Gemäldegalerie (Berlin, Berlin state, Germany) [500125802] National Museums in Berlin, Corporate Bodies (Corp. Body)

Repository Numbers: 586

Other: Creation: London [7011781] Greater London (metropolitan area), England (country), United Kingdom (nation), Europe (continent), World (facet) (Geographic)

Display Materials: oil on panel

	oil paint (paint) [300015050]
	.......(Materials Facet, Materials (hierarchy name), materials (substances), <materials by function>, coating (material), <coating by form>, paint (coating), <paint by composition or origin>)

	oak (wood) [300012264]
	.......(Materials Facet, Materials (hierarchy name), materials (substances), <materials by origin>, biological material, plant material, <wood and wood by product>, wood (plant material), <wood by composition or origin>, hardwood)

Dimensions: 97.5 x 86.2 cm

General Subject:

portraits (preferred)

Specific Subjects:

	Georg Gisze (German merchant, 1497-1562) [500353475]
	.....(Non-Artists) (ULAN)

List/Hierarchical Position:

..... Movable Works

.......... Movable Works by class: drawings, paintings, prints, other two-dimensional media

Sources and Contributors:
Portrait of Georg Gisze	........ [VP]
	........ Grove Art Online (2008-)
Portrait of the Merchant Georg Gisze	........ [VP]
	........ Grove Art Online (2008-)
Der Kaufmann Georg Gisze	........ [IfM-SMB-PK,VP]
	........ Staatliche Museen zu Berlin database (2000-)

Subject: ....... [VP]

Note:
English	..... [VP]
	..... Grove Art Online (2008-) Foister, Susan, "Holbein, Hans," accessed 8 December 2011