Follower of Hans Holbein II

Hans Holbein II painted Erasmus of Rotterdam on several occasions and appears to have enjoyed a close relationship with the great humanist writer. When Holbein traveled to England in 1526, it was Erasmus’s letters of introduction that provided him access to key patrons within Henry VIII’s court, including Sir Thomas More. The present portrait derives from the autograph likeness that Erasmus is believed to have sent to William Warham, Archbishop of Canterbury in 1524, which today is in the collection of the Earl of Radnor, Longford Castle, Wiltshire (National Gallery, London, on loan). It is closest to the version in which Erasmus similarly appears with his hands resting on an open book of his writings, which is in the Galleria Nazionale, Parma, and is inscribed 1530.