Bildnis des Nikolaus Kratzer

When Holbein first came to England in the 1520s he arrived carrying a letter to Thomas More, the scholar and royal councillor, who opened doors for him at court. One friend he found there was Nikolaus Kratzer, a Bavarian who had risen to become astronomer and clockmaker to Henry VIII. Holbein painted him in 1528 surrounded by the tools of that trade, a half-finished polyhedral sundial in his hands, a star quadrant and other instruments on the shelves behind, some of them shown still under construction. The two men actually worked side by side, Kratzer designing scientific and astronomical devices that Holbein helped to draw. A few years later Holbein would fold that same fascination with instruments and learning into his double portrait known as The Ambassadors.