A letter written by Thomas Houth to the Earl of Kildare, Lord Deputy of Ireland, shows that in 1533 Holbein’s sitter, Georg Gyze, was Deputy to the Alderman of the Steelyard.

The portion of the document which here concerns us, in which recovery is sought of a debt owed by one Wolff, in the employment of Kildare, to a man named Peter Rych, runs as follows:

“Your servant Wolff is indebted to the bearer, as appears by bills of Wolff’s son-in-law’s hand. I ascertained at the Steelyard that the handwriting was his, by the evidence of George Gyes, the Alderman’s Deputy....”⁠[491]

The origin of the name of Gyze, and the variations in the mode of spelling it, have been a considerable puzzle to students of Holbein. It occurs several times over on the addresses of letters and other accessories introduced into the portrait of this German merchant painted by Holbein in 1532, and each time takes a different form. Perhaps the most salient version is that placed in the portrait beneath the motto, “Nulla sine merore voluptas,” where the name is variously read “G. Gisze,” or “Gyze,” according to whether the second letter is taken to be an “i,” followed by a long “s,” or whether the two strokes are combined into one letter, and read as a “y.”⁠[492]

Equal uncertainty appears to prevail as to the type of German used in the various inscriptions. The catalogue (1891) of the Berlin Gallery, where the portrait now is, spells “Gisze,” and says, “An der Wand Briefe mit seiner Adresse in hochdeutscher Mundart.” (On the wall letters with his address in High German dialect.) Dr. Woltmann, in the first volume of “Holbein und seine Zeit” (2nd German edition, 1874), writes “Gyze,” and says (in his note, page 366), “Die Adressen auf den Briefen sind in nieder-deutschen Sprache geschrieben.” (The addresses on the letters are written in Low German language.) In his second volume (1876, “Verzeichniss der Werke von Hans Holbein d. J.,” No. 115), Dr. Woltmann alters the spelling to “Gysse,” a form which adds another stroke to the name and corresponds with no rendering given by Holbein.

Where authorities differ so widely a further suggestion may perhaps be permissible.

It must be recollected that the merchants of the Hansa came from many different localities, and brought a variety of dialects to the Steelyard of London. At this time, when the spelling of proper names was, like some of the languages to which they belonged, still in a fluid state, and largely phonetic, the rendering of any given name was liable to vary very considerably, according to local circumstances and the pleasure or provenance of the writer.

Whether we read Gisze or Gyze, the name was probably a variation of that of Gueiss, which was one of the most distinguished of the Steelyard, and frequently reappears in its annals. The family belonged to Cologne. Albert von Gueiss was a representative of the Steelyard at the conference held at Bruges in 1520 between England and the Hansa.⁠[493] He was Burgher-master of Cologne in 1523 and 1526.⁠[494] As it is recorded in the portrait of George Gyze by Holbein that the sitter was in his thirty-fourth year in 1532, he may have been a younger brother or possibly a son of this Albert von Gueiss. Further research in the archives of Cologne would perhaps reveal his exact identity.

Besides the form already quoted, Holbein gives the name on the portrait in several other versions: “Gisse” and “Ghisse,” and, in Latin, “... Georgii Gysenii.” (See Berlin catalogue under “Holbein.”)

The name of Gueiss is also found in three different shapes in the records of the Steelyard: “Albertum von Gueyss,” “Albert von Gueiss,” and “Albert Gissen.”⁠[495]

The third form “Gissen” is practically or wholly identical⁠[496] with at least one of Holbein’s renderings of the name; while Gueiss, Gisze, Gyze, and Gyes are sufficiently nearly related to make it appear tolerably certain that, in the loose orthography of the period, they represent the same name, varied according to the fancy or nationality of the writer.