Famous work · not an exact-location map point
The Merchant Georg Gisze
A young Hanseatic merchant among his letters, scales and ledgers at the Steelyard in London — the German trading enclave, long since demolished.
No single real-world viewpoint
A merchant's portrait in a studio-constructed office; the geocoded 'Steelyard' is the Hanseatic trading enclave (an institution/district), not a depicted topographic place.
The Merchant Georg Gisze — at a glance
- Artist
- Hans Holbein the Younger (1497/98–1543)
- Year
- 1532
- Movement
- Northern Renaissance
- Place
- The Steelyard (Hanseatic compound), City of London
- Viewpoint
- A merchant's counting-house at the Steelyard — the compound was cleared in the 1850s; Cannon Street station is on the site
- Medium
- Oil on panel
- Dimensions
- c. 96 × 86 cm
- Now at
- Gemäldegalerie, Berlin
Overview
The Merchant Georg Gisze is one of the great portraits Hans Holbein the Younger painted during his second stay in England. Dated 1532, it shows Gisze, a merchant from Danzig aged 34, standing behind a table in his office, opening a letter, surrounded by the precise tools and trappings of his trade: a spherical clock, a signet, a pewter inkstand, a ball of twine, seals, quill pens, keys, an account book, coins, and a Venetian glass vase of carnations and other flowers. It is oil on panel, about 96 by 86 cm, and it hangs in the Gemäldegalerie, Berlin.
Where was The Merchant Georg Gisze painted?
Scholarship Gisze worked at the Steelyard (Stalhof), the walled riverside compound on the north bank of the Thames in the City of London that housed the merchants of the Hanseatic League, with their own warehouses, hall, chapel and living quarters. Holbein painted several Steelyard merchants around 1532. The Hanse lost its privileges in 1598 and the Steelyard was finally sold and cleared in the 1850s; Cannon Street railway station now stands on the site. The specific counting-house is long gone; the location on the Thames is fixed by the City's history.
What is in the painting?
Gisze, in a dark rose doublet and black coat, stands slightly turned, opening a folded letter addressed to him. Behind and beside him, green-patterned cloth on the wall with pinned-up papers and business notes; on the covered table, a striped Anatolian carpet, the glass vase of flowers, the round gilt clock, scales, seals, a signet ring, coins, a bronze inkwell, string, and a book. A Latin motto near his head warns against a life without pleasure.
Look closely
The opened letter
Gisze is caught unfolding a letter addressed to him — the business of the counting-house.
The glass vase of carnations
A fine Venetian glass with fresh flowers on the table — beauty and transience among the ledgers.
The gilt sphere clock
A spherical table clock hangs on the wall — costly, and a reminder of passing time.
The scales and seals
Balance scales, wax seals, a signet ring and coins — the instruments of trade.
Analysis
Composition and technique
A half-length figure boxed in by the meticulously catalogued objects of his trade, every surface rendered with total precision.
Scholarship Holbein packs the small space with sharply observed things — glass, metal, paper, carpet, petals — each a demonstration of virtuoso painting and each also a marker of the sitter's identity, wealth and (through the flowers and motto) his character. The still life is nearly a portrait in itself.
History & provenance
The painting is in the Gemäldegalerie of the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin.
Sources
- Gemäldegalerie, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin — collection entry for Hans Holbein the Younger, ‘The Merchant Georg Gisze’ (1532)
- Susan Foister, ‘Holbein in England’ (Tate, 2006)
