In 1523 Holbein developed a portrait of Erasmus that reflected the sitter’s scholarly reputation. Holbein portrayed Erasmus in three-quarter pose and dressed in a black robe and hat, emphasizing his intellectual character through the strong jawline and deep-set eyes. This circa 1532 painting of the then sixty-two-year-old humanist was based upon that earlier image but sensitively adjusted to convey Erasmus’s advanced age. His cheeks are more sunken, his forehead is wrinkled, and snow-white hair now peeks from underneath his cap. Such portrait roundels often served as intimate gifts between family members or close friends. This example was in the possession of Hieronymus Froben, son of the printer Johann Froben and Erasmus’s godson.

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Erasmus received this ring, set with an ancient carved gem, as a gift from his student Alexander Stewart, the archbishop of St. Andrews, Scotland. Erasmus believed the figure on the gem to be Terminus, the popular Roman god of boundaries known for his firm opposition to Jupiter, who tried to expel Terminus from the Capitoline Hill in Rome. Intrigued by this model of fortitude (and obstinance), Erasmus took Terminus as his personal emblem. The figure on the gem, however, has now been identified as Dionysus, god of wine.

Erasmus had this seal made to press his emblem into the warm wax that fastened his correspondences and other documents. Here Terminus is represented simply as a herm, a pedestal with a head. An inscription on the base identifies the Roman god while his head is framed by an abbreviated form of Erasmus’s personal motto, Cedo nulli (I yield to no one).

Albrecht Dürer depicted the humanist scholar standing in his book-filled study and writing a letter. Although the inscription asserts that the likeness was “done from life,” the two men did not meet for an in-person sitting. Instead, Dürer based the portrayal on a drawing he had made during his meeting with Erasmus years earlier and on Quentin Metsys’s medal, while the composition evokes Holbein’s earlier portraits of the scholar writing at his desk. Ultimately, Erasmus did not care for Dürer’s representation and complained about it to friends.

Portrait medals were a form of portable sculpture popular in the Renaissance. Erasmus commissioned the design for this large and impressive medal from the Antwerp painter Quentin Metsys, who combined Erasmus’s likeness with that of his emblem, the Roman god Terminus. Attired in a cap and collared robe, Erasmus appears in profile, as if on an ancient coin. The surrounding inscription relates to the long-standing humanist debate about the respective merits of images and texts. It asserts that although the portrait is “from life,” and therefore reliable, Erasmus’s writings provide a truer representation of the author.

Seen in profile, facing into the winds of adversity, Terminus aligns with Erasmus’s portrait on the obverse. In Christian thought, Terminus was associated with the boundary between life and death. Turning the medal over, from the portrait of Erasmus to the image of Terminus, encouraged consideration of the inevitable passage from life to death, the true terminus.

In this painting, Holbein combined Erasmus’s portrait with his emblem, providing Terminus with Erasmus’s facial features. Seen through a stone opening, Erasmus/Terminus gazes across a featureless landscape. The golden disk behind his head represents divine radiance, underscoring the Christian meaning of the emblem for Erasmus: steadfast character and unwavering faith. This rare painting of a personal emblem by Holbein was probably intended to delight an admirer rather than to gratify Erasmus himself.

To satisfy the great demand for likenesses of Erasmus among the scholar’s many patrons and admirers, Holbein and members of his Basel workshop produced numerous versions of the same image. Like the other painted representation of Erasmus on view in the exhibition, this portrait shows the scholar in three-quarter profile against a neutral background. Holbein achieved a stately monumentality by filling the narrow panel with Erasmus’s form and by depicting his austere but luxurious clothing: the black hat and voluminous robe with fur collar and cuffs.

Holbein designed this commemorative portrait of Erasmus following the latter’s death in 1536. Seen in full length and dressed in long robes, the scholar rests his hand on a sculpted herm of Terminus, which seems to cast a wily glance at the viewer. The lavishly decorated triumphal arch honors Erasmus, while the motifs of baskets and abundant garlands of fruit allude to his prolific scholarship. The text, added in movable metal type (not part of the woodcut itself ), commends the accuracy of the portrait: “If you have not seen Erasmus in life, then this image, executed from life, will show you how he looked.”

Despite its small scale, Holbein’s posthumous portrait of Johann Froben (1460–1527), originally enclosed in a carved frame with a lid, conveys the determined character of the Basel printer. It is one of the first known portraits of a European book printer, suggesting the importance of Froben to the printing industry as well as to Holbein’s career. Erasmus entrusted the publication of most of his texts to Froben, whose enterprise influenced book production throughout Europe. Froben hired Holbein to design woodcut illustrations for his publications beginning in 1516.

Starting in 1516, Holbein designed decorative borders and illustrations for the Basel printer Johann Froben. This imagery, often derived from classical sources, was intended to appeal to a cultured clientele but did not directly relate to the text itself. Here, the shield in the left border contains the initials HH, which stand for either Hans Holbein or Hans Herman, the blockcutter who translated Holbein’s drawing into a relief woodblock for printing. Facing the title page is Froben’s printer’s mark, the trademark of his press. The caduceus (staff ) of the god Mercury represents industry and commerce, while the dove and serpents are derived from Matthew 10:16, which is printed in Latin, Greek, and Hebrew: “Be you therefore wise as serpents and harmless as doves.”

The books Johann Froben printed were distributed across Europe, which meant that Holbein’s illustrations (if not his name) were disseminated as well. In 1521 the London printer Richard Pynson had an exact copy of the Mucius Scaevola border produced for his own use. Although the initials HH were retained, Pynson was likely more interested in emulating the quality of Froben’s production than Holbein’s artistic creation. In fact, many title-page borders used by the Basel printers—those designed by Holbein and others—were copied across Europe in efforts to capitalize on the notoriety of Basel printing.

Sir Thomas More (1478–1535) sat for this portrait at the height of his political career, shortly before he was promoted to lord chancellor, the highest-ranking office in Tudor England. Like his friend Erasmus, More was a prolific scholar, but Holbein presents him as an authoritative statesman, prominently adorned with a gold livery chain— a symbol of his service to the king. The S-shaped links might stand in for the motto “Souvent me souvient” (Think of me often), while a Tudor rose at the center is the traditional heraldic emblem of England. The portrait displays Holbein’s ability to render colors and textures—from More’s graying stubble to the opulent fur trim of his coat and the lush, voluminous red-velvet sleeves of his doublet.

During a stay in Antwerp in 1515, Sir Thomas More began drafting a literary work that described a self-contained society on a fictional island. He coined the term “utopia” based on the ancient Greek term ou-topos, meaning “no place.” Both playful and serious, rooted in satire but also exploring complex philosophical ideas, the text was edited by his friend Erasmus and first published in Antwerp in 1516. The revised Basel edition, on view here, was published by Johann Froben under the continued guidance of Erasmus. It included a new map showing a bird’s-eye view of the island designed by Hans Holbein’s older brother, Ambrosius, and reused a title page border that Hans designed in 1516.