Double Portrait of Jakob Meyer zum Hasen and Dorothea Kannengießer
Kunstmuseum Basel, Basel
This diptych, signed and dated 1516, is Hans Holbein the Younger's first notable commission and one of the earliest works fully attributable to him in his own hand, made when he was still a young journeyman recently settled in Basel[1]. Holbein and his brother Ambrosius had arrived in Basel around 1514 or 1515, still teenagers, and worked their way into the local painters' trade through signboards, house decoration, book illustration and altarpiece work before this diptych marked a real step up[1]. Unlike most double portraits of the period, it does not commemorate a marriage. Jakob Meyer zum Hasen was a wealthy Swiss moneylender, shown holding a coin that alludes to his trade, and his wife Dorothea Kannengiesser, whom he had married in 1513, was the daughter of a Habsburg tax collector[1]. The real occasion for the commission was civic rather than personal: Meyer had just become the first commoner elected mayor of Basel, an unusual honour that called for its own tribute in paint[1]. Holbein painted the couple as full-bodied, confident busts set within a sturdy architectural loggia, a treatment one writer describes as conveying burgher pride and self-esteem, sharply different from the more inward, meditative mood typical of contemporary double portraits of scholars[2]. Meyer went on to help secure Holbein one of his first major public commissions, decorations for Basel's city council chamber, five years later[1].
Where it is held
Held at Kunstmuseum Basel, Basel, Switzerland.
Held at the Kunstmuseum Basel. Preparatory drawings for the diptych, made in a combination of silverpoint and red chalk, also survive in Basel[2].
A very young painter's first real commission
Holbein was only around eighteen when he painted this diptych, still working within the apprentice and journeyman system he and his brother Ambrosius had entered after leaving Augsburg for Basel a year or two earlier. Their early years in the city were spent on the unglamorous work available to newcomers: signboards, house decoration, book illustrations, and assisting with altarpieces[1]. Against that background, a paired portrait commission for the city's newly elected mayor was a real step forward, and it is generally treated as the first work that shows Holbein's mature portrait style rather than apprentice-level output.
A commission for a title, not a marriage
Double portraits of this kind usually marked a wedding, but Meyer and Kannengiesser had already been married three years by the time Holbein painted them. Meyer, a wealthy moneylender, holds a coin in the portrait, a direct reference to his trade, and his wife Dorothea was the daughter of a Habsburg tax collector[1]. The actual trigger for the commission was Meyer's election as the first commoner, rather than a member of the traditional patrician class, to serve as mayor of Basel, an achievement notable enough in the city's civic life to prompt its own visual record[1]. The diptych format, usually reserved for devotional or marital pairings, was repurposed here to mark a political milestone instead.
Burgher pride built into the composition
Holbein set both sitters within a sturdy Renaissance loggia with a barrel-vaulted porch, a setting that lends its own weight and monumentality to the figures rather than serving as mere decorative backdrop[1]. The full-bodied, confident treatment of the couple has been read as a deliberate expression of civic self-assurance, described by one writer as conveying burgher pride and self-esteem, a register quite different from the more inward, contemplative mood found in Holbein's contemporary double portraits of scholars and humanists[2]. Where a scholar's portrait might show a sitter absorbed in thought, Meyer and Kannengiesser look outward with the settled confidence of a couple whose social position had just been publicly confirmed.
Common questions
Why did Holbein paint Jakob Meyer and his wife together if it wasn't for their wedding?
Meyer had just been elected the first commoner to serve as mayor of Basel, an unusual civic honour. The double portrait commemorated that achievement rather than marking their marriage, which had already taken place three years earlier.
How old was Holbein when he painted this diptych?
Around eighteen. It is generally treated as his first notable commission and the earliest work that clearly shows his mature portrait style, made shortly after he and his brother Ambrosius arrived in Basel.
What does the coin in Jakob Meyer's hand mean?
Meyer was a wealthy moneylender, and the coin directly references his trade and source of wealth.
Where is this diptych now?
It is held at the Kunstmuseum Basel.
Sources
Editorial draws on the following references, verified against the museum and public-domain image record for this work.
- [1] book Snyder, James, 1928-1990, Northern Renaissance art : painting, sculpture, the graphic arts from 1350 to 1575 Used for: this artwork.
- [2] book Charles D. Cuttler, Northern Painting From Pucelle to Bruegel Fourteenth, Fifteenth, and Sixteenth Centuries Used for: this artwork.
Editorial overseen by Solis Prints. Sources verified 2026-09-03. Click a source for details, or hover over [N] in the page above to preview.
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