The Story
Joan II (French: Jeanne d'Auvergne 1378 – c. 1424) was the countess of Auvergne and Boulogne from 1394 until 1424 as well as the duchess of Berry by marriage. She was the daughter of John II, Count of Auvergne (died 1394), and second wife of John, Duke of Berry. She is arguably most famous for saving the life of her nephew King Charles VI of France, during the disastrous Bal des Ardents (Ball of the Burning Men).
Created in 1526 during the Renaissance period, this work belongs firmly within the portrait tradition. Hans Holbein the Younger worked at a moment when the rivalry between Catholic Baroque drama and Protestant restraint reshaped what a painting could mean. Every gesture, fabric, and gleam of light was decoded by contemporary viewers like a private language.
Executed in woodcut, measuring Unknown, the surface rewards close looking. Hans Holbein the Younger builds the composition through layered glazes and a tightly controlled palette, letting cool shadows recede so that the warm, lit passages step forward. The brushwork shifts from the precise to the almost dissolved — a hallmark of mature Baroque practice.
“A silence so complete it becomes its own witness.”
