WEBVTT 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Portraits of men engaged in their profession were a relatively new thing. forcing Holbein to quit the court and look to the rising middle class for new clients. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 They show us... 00:00:03.000 --> 00:00:04.170 Art... 00:00:04.180 --> 00:00:05.530 ArtSleuth 00:00:08.020 --> 00:00:10.940 A superb Turkish carpet 00:00:11.780 --> 00:00:13.780 Money 00:00:13.820 --> 00:00:16.660 Finely worked gold 00:00:17.840 --> 00:00:20.440 A picture by Hans Holbein 00:00:20.480 --> 00:00:23.860 A young man of the Renaissance? 00:00:23.960 --> 00:00:25.640 Indeed! 00:00:26.040 --> 00:00:29.680 - and he seems to be putting his cards on the table. 00:00:29.860 --> 00:00:31.420 Even his name, Georg Gisze, 00:00:31.420 --> 00:00:33.820 appears several times in the picture 00:00:33.820 --> 00:00:36.800 Below his personal motto: 00:00:36.800 --> 00:00:39.580 “No joy without sorrow” 00:00:39.580 --> 00:00:43.940 on this piece of paper stuck to the wall 00:00:43.940 --> 00:00:48.780 and again on this letter 00:00:50.500 --> 00:00:54.020 And yet, what a contrast between this show of wealth 00:00:54.040 --> 00:00:57.380 and his disconcerted or appraising look, 00:00:57.420 --> 00:01:02.060 which almost suggests we are invading his privacy. 00:01:02.180 --> 00:01:08.120 And what a contrast between these precious, richly worked objects 00:01:08.140 --> 00:01:10.880 and the rough wall of the cramped wooden box 00:01:10.880 --> 00:01:14.080 in which he seems confined! 00:01:14.080 --> 00:01:17.500 What is Holbein telling us about him 00:01:17.540 --> 00:01:20.960 with all these knick-knacks ... 00:01:20.960 --> 00:01:24.000 … and what is he hiding from us? 00:01:24.050 --> 00:01:26.800 Episode 9 : Holbein - *Le Marchand Georg Gisze* *Le Monde mis en boîte* 00:01:28.300 --> 00:01:30.530 Part 1. New Era, new Merchants 00:01:31.860 --> 00:01:36.480 The thing that strikes us at once is the emphasis on correspondence: 00:01:36.480 --> 00:01:38.180 Not only is Gisze shown 00:01:38.180 --> 00:01:40.560 …in the act of opening a letter… 00:01:40.620 --> 00:01:43.600 … but most of the objects have the same connotations: 00:01:43.600 --> 00:01:46.260 The letters pinned on the wall, 00:01:46.260 --> 00:01:52.200 The dispenser with string to fasten them securely 00:01:52.200 --> 00:01:56.860 or the strips of parchment with their ready-for-use seals. 00:01:57.000 --> 00:01:59.660 Holbein wants us to notice them, 00:01:59.660 --> 00:02:02.660 and even distorts Gisze’s arm 00:02:02.660 --> 00:02:05.300 to let us see them clearly. 00:02:06.080 --> 00:02:09.820 Moreover, these letters are perfectly legible. 00:02:10.380 --> 00:02:16.080 ...that Gisze is a London-based merchant, 00:02:16.080 --> 00:02:19.000 in constant touch with his family 00:02:19.000 --> 00:02:23.460 and other merchants in northern Europe. 00:02:24.100 --> 00:02:26.780 But although the picture identifies him as a merchant, 00:02:26.780 --> 00:02:29.120 we have no way of knowing what he deals in! 00:02:29.120 --> 00:02:32.220 Indeed, these massive keys are the only sign that he has - somewhere - … 00:02:32.220 --> 00:02:36.080 …goods locked away in a warehouse. 00:02:36.380 --> 00:02:42.420 The one thing Gisze really lets us see is his collection of official seals 00:02:42.420 --> 00:02:44.420 the motif is reversed, 00:02:44.420 --> 00:02:48.680 and will only show correctly when impressed on wax 00:02:48.680 --> 00:02:54.420 and another, larger one is attached to a precious ball of amber. 00:02:55.520 --> 00:02:58.760 The letters from other merchants 00:02:58.800 --> 00:03:01.860 are signed with strange pictograms, 00:03:01.940 --> 00:03:05.360 … and the seals themselves are everywhere. 00:03:06.380 --> 00:03:09.320 So why this obsession with signatures? 00:03:09.340 --> 00:03:12.080 The fact is, Gisze is one of a new breed of merchants. 00:03:13.260 --> 00:03:15.840 Instead of hauling his wares from one European fair to the next, 00:03:15.840 --> 00:03:19.780 He has an office in London, 00:03:19.780 --> 00:03:22.360 at the Steelyard, where the German merchants congregate, 00:03:22.360 --> 00:03:25.000 and where he represents his family, 00:03:25.000 --> 00:03:29.820 one of the most powerful in Danzig… 00:03:29.820 --> 00:03:32.660 a town belonging to the Hanseatic League, an association of merchant cities, 00:03:33.440 --> 00:03:37.080 which dominates European trade. 00:03:37.100 --> 00:03:39.380 Success for these great international merchants is a matter of being in the right place 00:03:39.380 --> 00:03:44.620 to know, for example: 00:03:44.620 --> 00:03:47.220 that the Baltic towns have a surplus of cheap fish ... 00:03:47.220 --> 00:03:50.800 … which England needs to feed the countless workers 00:03:50.800 --> 00:03:54.120 ... who make the cloth 00:03:55.240 --> 00:03:57.940 she must sell on the continent. 00:03:57.940 --> 00:04:02.120 Gisze succeeds… 00:04:02.120 --> 00:04:05.080 …because he knows about supply and demand … 00:04:07.140 --> 00:04:10.280 … and how to put sellers and buyers under contract. 00:04:10.280 --> 00:04:13.100 But these seals are also based on the runic alphabet, 00:04:13.740 --> 00:04:17.120 and have talismanic value, 00:04:18.140 --> 00:04:19.560 since a vital part of coming out on top in business is coming out on top when Fortune spins her wheel: 00:04:19.600 --> 00:04:22.140 after all, the ship he loads with goods 00:04:22.180 --> 00:04:24.560 may return from her voyage with huge profits … 00:04:25.400 --> 00:04:27.500 but may also go down - and drag him with it! 00:04:27.520 --> 00:04:30.520 This new way of doing business certainly offers him comfortable margins … 00:04:33.060 --> 00:04:35.220 … but he must take risks to secure them. 00:04:35.240 --> 00:04:38.360 Which is why he implicitly boasts on his walls 00:04:38.360 --> 00:04:42.380 of having information which other men do not. 00:04:42.380 --> 00:04:46.060 Is that why he gives us that cautious look? 00:04:48.730 --> 00:04:51.130 Part 2. Time takes all 00:04:51.460 --> 00:04:54.460 But who is he really looking at? 00:04:54.460 --> 00:04:57.100 The picture gives us some clues: 00:04:57.100 --> 00:04:59.440 the clearly visible message at the top, for instance, … 00:04:59.440 --> 00:05:03.120 is aimed at us, the viewers … 00:05:03.120 --> 00:05:07.100 … and tells us that this is indeed what Georg Gisze looked like, that these were his eyes and his cheeks 00:05:07.100 --> 00:05:09.700 at the age of 34 00:05:11.200 --> 00:05:13.320 -no longer so young for a bachelor, 00:05:13.360 --> 00:05:18.380 the regulation status for members of the Steelyard. 00:05:18.800 --> 00:05:23.100 And, as this pocket clock reminds us, time is passing: 00:05:25.480 --> 00:05:29.100 The flowers beside it are not simply there to pretty up the picture. 00:05:29.160 --> 00:05:33.200 Each has a definite meaning: 00:05:33.200 --> 00:05:39.420 hyssop protects against the plague, and tells us that Gisze takes care of his health, 00:05:39.420 --> 00:05:42.560 the carnation symbolises betrothal, 00:05:42.560 --> 00:05:45.420 and the rosemary stands for fidelity. 00:05:46.000 --> 00:05:49.000 So is the portrait a gift for his future wife? 00:05:49.000 --> 00:05:53.820 Three years later, Gizse goes home and marries in Danzig: 00:05:53.820 --> 00:05:57.120 quite possibly, he was already engaged when the portrait was painted. 00:05:57.660 --> 00:06:00.120 X-ray examination has also shown 00:06:00.140 --> 00:06:02.140 that Holbein repainted certain parts of the picture. 00:06:02.500 --> 00:06:03.460 Originally: 00:06:03.460 --> 00:06:06.940 the wall on the right, with all its paraphernalia, was not there, 00:06:06.940 --> 00:06:09.400 and Gisze was looking to the right, 00:06:09.400 --> 00:06:12.280 the side on which - since the earliest pictures of Adam and Eve 00:06:12.280 --> 00:06:14.940 - wives had invariably been placed. 00:06:15.860 --> 00:06:20.740 And so there are many reasons to believe that his portrait was meant to be one of a pair, 00:06:20.740 --> 00:06:22.880 with his wife’s portrait in the traditional position on the right. 00:06:24.160 --> 00:06:27.160 And yet Holbein retouched the canvas 00:06:27.160 --> 00:06:32.540 and confined Gisze within a cramped and cluttered space. 00:06:33.320 --> 00:06:34.700 And the fact that his eight other portraits of Steelyard merchants are rather different: 00:06:34.700 --> 00:06:39.920 makes this even stranger 00:06:39.920 --> 00:06:42.520 There are far fewer objects in this portrait of Dirk Tybis, 00:06:42.520 --> 00:06:46.180 who seems bent on keeping himself to himself. 00:06:47.040 --> 00:06:51.880 Wrapped in his voluminous coat, Herman Wedigh regards us calmly. 00:06:52.660 --> 00:06:58.860 He is obviously sure of his own worth, and needs no props to prove it. 00:06:58.980 --> 00:07:03.980 And Derich Born displays all the pride and arrogance of youth, 00:07:04.020 --> 00:07:07.280 as he looks us straight in the eye, leaning on a balustrade 00:07:07.360 --> 00:07:09.860 in a pose worthy of an Italian prince… 00:07:10.960 --> 00:07:15.320 No other picture in the series is as big or as crowded as the Gisze - in short, as blatantly out to impress! 00:07:15.380 --> 00:07:18.420 Why is Holbein so keen to dazzle us? 00:07:18.720 --> 00:07:23.200 Why is Holbein so keen to dazzle us? 00:07:25.130 --> 00:07:25.130 Part 3. You can’t take it with you! 00:07:28.620 --> 00:07:32.120 Gisze’s portrait was the first in the series, and it has been suggested 00:07:32.120 --> 00:07:35.560 that Holbein was playing the salesman 00:07:35.560 --> 00:07:37.620 - and putting all his wares in the window! 00:07:38.220 --> 00:07:39.720 But this isn’t the whole story. 00:07:41.060 --> 00:07:44.180 Henry VIII has turned against Sir Thomas More, his patron - 00:07:44.180 --> 00:07:49.080 forcing Holbein to quit the court and look to the rising middle class for new clients. 00:07:49.100 --> 00:07:52.380 Portraits of men engaged in their profession were a relatively new thing. 00:07:54.140 --> 00:07:55.540 Previously, portraits distinguishing a class were easy 00:07:55.540 --> 00:08:00.760 noblemen never work, and a fine pair of gloves will label them instantly, 00:08:00.760 --> 00:08:06.120 books for scholars, 00:08:06.120 --> 00:08:08.560 and instruments for scientists. 00:08:10.100 --> 00:08:13.940 Now these new-style merchants, with their new-made wealth, 00:08:13.960 --> 00:08:20.040 also want the world to see the tools of their trade... 00:08:20.100 --> 00:08:25.000 and be left in no doubt that they’ve made it. 00:08:25.040 --> 00:08:29.960 But this display of wealth still raises one problem, 00:08:29.960 --> 00:08:33.660 since some people may see Holbein’s Gisze as an example 00:08:33.700 --> 00:08:34.740 - best avoided! 00:08:35.680 --> 00:08:38.720 In fact, the Baltic merchants have a stern religious code 00:08:38.720 --> 00:08:41.480 - and showing off like this may offend them. 00:08:41.520 --> 00:08:47.400 Even religious artworks are being destroyed in some places by Protestants who think them too opulent 00:08:47.440 --> 00:08:49.080 - and as such blasphemous 00:08:50.480 --> 00:08:52.620 Which is why the Steelyard merchants want Holbein 00:08:52.620 --> 00:08:55.260 to paint them a large fresco for their hall, whose subject, “The Triumph of Poverty” 00:08:55.300 --> 00:08:58.940 almost implies that they are asking God’s pardon 00:08:58.940 --> 00:09:01.340 … 00:09:01.340 --> 00:09:03.900 for having their own portraits painted. 00:09:04.940 --> 00:09:08.020 Both merchants and bankers also have a taste for pictures 00:09:08.020 --> 00:09:09.840 … 00:09:09.840 --> 00:09:11.600 which satirise their callings: 00:09:12.100 --> 00:09:14.520 Holbein insists that, love money as we may, 00:09:14.520 --> 00:09:17.460 death will still take it in the end! 00:09:18.780 --> 00:09:20.960 This picture, too, uses caricature to convey the same message: 00:09:20.980 --> 00:09:22.700 money-grubbing avarice 00:09:22.740 --> 00:09:28.320 has permanently deformed the faces of these two grotesque bankers. 00:09:29.760 --> 00:09:31.580 And the wife in this portrait 00:09:31.580 --> 00:09:35.080 seems more interested in making sure that her banker husband gets his sums right 00:09:35.080 --> 00:09:39.300 than in reading her prayerbook, 00:09:40.140 --> 00:09:41.580 even though the man discreetly reflected in the mirror 00:09:41.580 --> 00:09:43.760 is pointing to a steeple outside the window, 00:09:43.760 --> 00:09:46.920 reminding her that eternal salvation is what matters 00:09:46.940 --> 00:09:51.260 - and not this pair of scales, which is used to weigh gold. 00:09:52.920 --> 00:09:55.420 A similar pair of scales turns up in Gisze’s portrait. 00:09:55.420 --> 00:09:58.180 Is this a reference to the scales… 00:09:58.180 --> 00:10:03.240 …on which souls are weighed at the last judgment? 00:10:04.420 --> 00:10:07.940 If it is, Gisze’s soul may already have been weighed, 00:10:07.940 --> 00:10:13.300 since one pan hangs far below the other! 00:10:13.300 --> 00:10:17.340 We can decide for ourselves what this means for him 00:10:17.340 --> 00:10:19.040 … 00:10:19.040 --> 00:10:20.620 - but should always remember 00:10:20.620 --> 00:10:23.720 that “it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle 00:10:23.720 --> 00:10:25.900 than it is for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven”. 00:10:27.800 --> 00:10:33.070 ArtSleuth next episode : Bruegel – A Merchant looking down on peasants? 00:10:33.070 --> 00:10:40.370 Find more about the series on: www.artsleuth.net 00:10:40.370 --> 00:10:42.570 Written & directed by 00:10:42.570 --> 00:10:44.760 Produced by 00:10:44.760 --> 00:10:46.930 Scientific expert 00:10:46.930 --> 00:10:49.130 Special thanks to 00:10:49.130 --> 00:10:51.300 Voice / English adaptation 00:10:51.300 --> 00:10:53.500 Editing & Visual effects by 00:10:53.500 --> 00:10:55.670 Post-production / Sound 00:10:55.670 --> 00:10:57.860 Music Supervisor 00:10:57.860 --> 00:11:00.000 Music 00:11:00.000 --> 00:11:02.200 Special Thanks – English subtitles : Vincent Nash 00:11:02.200 --> 00:11:02.200 A CED Production