Holbein and the Art of the Heterogeneous Bible

The new diversity of Bible versions and ensuing sociopolitical upheavals presented challenges with which publishers and artists, such as Hans Holbein, had to contend. Initially receiving commissions from printers in Basel (Johannes Froben, etc.), Holbein designed art for numerous German Bibles, a French humanist translation, the first complete Bible in English (Coverdale Bible, 1535), and a host of Catholic-oriented Bible texts, including the Vulgate and Erasmus’s Bible editions. He also created the first emblem Bible, the Icons of the Old Testament, one of the most influential Bibles of the Renaissance. Holbein focused on the Bible as image and history, not as text or theology, an approach that enabled him to accommodate the heterogeneity of humanist and Reformation Bibles. With few exceptions, Holbein’s designs could be reused in Bibles with different theological agendas, an artistic efficiency that contributed to the stability of the Bible image across a wide humanist and multi-confessional spectrum.