Apostles of 1527, by workshop or circle of Hans Holbein the Younger

Three chiaroscuro drawings of apostles. Pen and ink and brush, grey wash, white heightening, on brown prepared paper, museum boijmans van beuningen, rotterdam. The apostle james the less the apostle james the great the apostle john these three sheets are from a group known as "the apostles of 1527". Nine chiaroscuro drawings have survived, six dated 1527. In that year, holbein was in london, but the drawings were probably done in basel from his designs. In the view of art historian christian müller, "the artist of the apostles, who in the year 1527 reflects an earlier stylistic phase of the master's, is most likely to have been in basel. In the best case, he will have been a co-worker in holbein's own workshop. However, he may also have been an artist working in holbein's wider circle" (müller, 366. ). Date: 1527.