Ambrosius Holbein was the
elder son of the German painter Hans Holbein the
Elder and an elder brother of the famous artist Hans
Holbein the Younger. Born in about 1494 in Augsburg, he got his professional
training from his father. In 1514 Ambrosius left his father's workshop
in Augsburg and started an independent work in the monastery in Sanct-George
in Stein-on-Rein. In 1516, he settled in Basel with his younger brother
Hans Holbein the Younger. They had many small commissions for engravings
and woodcuts for Basel publishers, religious paintings and portraits.
Judging by the Portrait
of a Young Man from the Hermitage, Ambrosius could have become
a great master, but for his early death.
Bibliography:
German and Austrian Paintings. XV-XVIII centuries. by N. Nikulin. Leningrad.
1989.