The Parnassus

Holbein’s second period in England, which culminated in 1536 with his appointment as court painter to the king, began with a commission for the Steelyard, headquarters of London’s influential community of Hanseatic merchants. In addition to commissions for canvas wall paintings (sadly only known to us today in the form of two copies), he also designed a street tableau used as part of a commemorative display, erected in front of the Steelyard in May 1533 to mark the coronation of Henry VIII’s second wife, Anne Boleyn. The work consequently represents an unusual commission in Holbein’s oeuvre. We see the figure of Apollo, his throne spanned by a canopy, atop which perches an eagle. Wearing the robes of a Roman emperor, Apollo is surrounded by the nine muses. Neither the drawings nor contemporary descriptions reveal with any degree of certainty whether the figures were painted, or rather represented by real people. By contrast, a number of sources state that the central fountain, which symbolized the Castalian Springs of Delphi, flowed until evening with Rhenish wine.