# Portrait of Philipp Melanchthon [View the canonical artwork record]() ## Artwork - Artist: [HOLBEIN, Hans the Younger]() - Date: 1501-1550 - Technique: Oak, diameter 9 cm ## Commentary Portrait of Philipp Melanchthon c. 1535 Oak, diameter 9 cm Niedersächsisches Landesmuseum, Hannover In all probability Holbein never got to know the German reformer Melanchthon \(1497-1560\) personally, and so must have painted his portrait based on a picture by Cranach or Dürer. The inscription on the cover, which can be used to shut up the small portrait as in a box, praises the ability of the painter to bring the sitter to life in a picture: "You who view the features of Melanchthon as if they were almost alive: Holbein created them with the utmost skill." It is not known who the portrait was for, but it must presumably have been one of Melanchthon's many supporters. ## Related artworks - [Adam and Eve]() - [Apollo and the Muses on Parnassus]() - [Charitas]() - [Charles Brandon]() - [Christ as the True Light]() - [Christina of Denmark, Ducchess of Milan \(detail\)]() - [Christina of Denmark, Ducchess of Milan]() - [Courtier of Henry VIII and his Wife]() - [Darmstadt Madonna \(detail\)]() - [Darmstadt Madonna \(detail\)]() - [Darmstadt Madonna \(detail\)]() - [Darmstadt Madonna \(detail\)]() ## Attribution [Web Gallery of Art]()