Solothurn Madonna

The Solothurn Madonna is an oil-on-panel painting executed in 1522 by the German-Swiss artist Hans Holbein the Younger in Basel. It shows the Virgin Mary and Christ enthroned, flanked by Martin of Tours (shown as a bishop giving alms to a beggar) and Ursus of Solothurn (shown as a soldier in armour). Holbein used his wife Elsbeth as his model for the Madonna, and the baby "may well have been modelled on Holbein and Elsbeth's baby son Philipp."[1]

Solothurn Madonna
ArtistHans Holbein the Younger
Year1522
MediumOil on limewood
Dimensions143,5 cm × 104,9 cm (565 in × 413 in)
LocationKunstmuseum Solothurn, Solothurn
Detail of the Madonna, between the first restoration of 1866 and the second of 1971
Elisabeth and her children Philipp and Katharina, a 1528 painting by Holbein
Holbein's drawing of a young woman, 1520–1522, probably a model for the Solothurn Madonna
The Martinskirche in Basel, probably the original home of the Solothurn Madonna

The church which originally commissioned it is unknown,[2] but it resurfaced in 1864 in poor condition in the Allerheiligenkapelle in the Grenchen district of Solothurn. It has been owned by the town of Solothurn since 1879, and it has been named after the town since the late 19th century. It is kept in the Solothurn Art Museum. After the Darmstadt Madonna, the Solothurn Madonna is the second largest surviving Madonna by Hans Holbein the Younger.

See also

References
  1. Moyle, Franny, The King's Painter: The Life and Times of Hans Holbein, New York: Abrams Press, 2021, pp. 101, 102.
  2. Franny Moyle writes, "the escutcheons of the painting's patrons are woven into the carpet design: Johannes Gerster and Maria Barbara Guldinknopf." The King's Painter, p. 101.

Bibliography (in German)
  • Jacob Amiet: Hans Holbein's Madonna von Solothurn Und der Stifter Nicolaus Conrad, Solothurn, 1879. Reprint: Bibliolife, LaVergne, 2011.
  • Oskar Bätschmann, Pascal Griener: Hans Holbein d.J. – Die Solothurner Madonna. Eine Sacra Conversazione im Norden, Basel, 1998. ISBN 3-7965-1050-7
  • Jochen Sander: Hans Holbein d. J. und die niederländische Kunst, am Beispiel der "Solothurner Madonna" in: Zeitschrift für Schweizerische Archäologie und Kunstgeschichte 55 (1998), S. 123–130.
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