Benedikt von Hertenstein (born about 1495, died 1522)

Hans Holbein the Younger's portrait of Benedikt von Hertenstein (1517) is an early masterpiece painted in Lucerne during the artist's first major independent commission. Holbein was approximately twenty years old when he executed this work, yet it already demonstrates the unnerving psychological precision that would make him the greatest portraitist of the Northern Renaissance. Hertenstein, from a distinguished Lucerne family, died in battle in 1522 aged twenty-seven — a young man whose fierce intelligence Holbein captures with startling immediacy. The work, executed in oil and gold on paper laid on panel, shows Holbein's precocious command of Italian spatial organization combined with northern precision.

The unusual technique of oil and gold on paper laid down on wood reflects Holbein's early experimental approach. The face is modeled with extraordinary precision and sensitivity, while the gold accents add a decorative element. The careful drawing and precise detail that would characterize Holbein's mature work are already fully evident.