| Solothurn Madonna | |
| Artist: | Hans Holbein the Younger |
| Year: | 1522 |
| Medium: | Oil on limewood |
| Height Metric: | 143,5 |
| Width Metric: | 104,9 |
| Museum: | Kunstmuseum Solothurn |
| City: | Solothurn |
The Solothurn Madonna is an oil-on-panel painting created in 1522 by the German-Swiss artist Hans Holbein the Younger in Basel. The painting depicts the Virgin Mary and Christ enthroned, flanked by Martin of Tours, shown as a bishop giving alms to a beggar, and Ursus of Solothurn, depicted as a soldier in armour. Notably, Holbein used his wife, Elsbeth, as the model for the Madonna, and the baby is believed to have been modelled after Holbein and Elsbeth's infant son Philipp.[1]
The church that originally commissioned the Solothurn Madonna is unknown,[2] but it reappeared in 1864 in a state of disrepair at the Allerheiligenkapelle in the Grenchen district of Solothurn. The town of Solothurn has owned the painting since 1879, and it has been named after the town since the late 19th century. Currently, it is housed at the Solothurn Art Museum. After the Darmstadt Madonna, the Solothurn Madonna is the second largest surviving Madonna by Hans Holbein the Younger.