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The genius of Holbein also blossomed early. In 1515, when he was eighteen years old, he moved from Augsburg, where he was born, to Basel, the center of learning, whose boast was that every house in it contained at least one learned man. In 1520 he was admitted to citizenship at Basel and to membership in the painters’ guild; good proof, as he was only twenty-three, of his unusual ability,

But the times were lean ones for the painter. Holbein found himself in need of money, and accordingly set out for London with a letter of introduction to Sir Thomas More, the King’s Chancellor.

“Master Haunce,” as the English called him, arrived in England toward the close of 1526. During this first visit to England, he painted portraits of many of the leading men of the day, But two years later, in consequence of an outbreak of the plague, he returned to Basel,