Portrait of a Young Boy with Blond Hair

This is one of a matched pair. Ambrosius Holbein painted two boys in 1516, one fair, one dark, close in size and pose, and the Kunstmuseum in Basel has kept them side by side ever since. We do not know who the children were. No name travelled with them, only the likelihood that they were sons of families comfortable enough to pay for a portrait in a busy printing town. What stays with you is how little the painter reached for effect. The blond boy stands against a plain ground, turned a little to one side, meeting your eye with the mild seriousness of a child told to hold still. There is no coat of arms, no motto, no toy or attribute to explain him, just the face, which is the whole point of the picture.