HANS HOLBEIN THE YOUNGER (1497/8-1543)
Derich Born (1509/10 - after 1549)
Signed and dated 1533RCIN 405681
Derich Born, a merchant from Cologne, was the youngest member of the London Hanseatic League. The translated inscription reads: ‘If you added a voice, this would be Derich his very self. You would be in doubt whether the painter or his father made him. Der Born aged 23, the year 1533.’ The idea that art could perfectly imitate nature was much debated by contemporary humanists.