The interest contained in this tablet is twofold and concerns its author and the person depicted, who establish close personal relationships starting from 1523, the year in which Holbein portrays Erasmus for the first time in the painting now in Longford Castle, Earl of Radnor collection. , which will be followed by many other versions, including the very famous one preserved in the Louvre, probably intended for Thomas More and of which there are also preparatory drawings for the hands. Just as Cranach was Martin Luther's portrait painter, so Holbein will become the painter of Erasmus, determining an acquaintance and a mental harmony oscillating between vanity, lucid objectivity, psychological analysis and intellectual rigor, which transpire in the writings of one and in the paintings of the other.

The artist and the intellectual seem to proceed, despite the diversity of the expressive tools used, with the same open-mindedness, which will bring consensus but also fearful disagreements with the opposing parties. Holbein's painting will receive approval from scientists, merchants, ambassadors, as well as from the rich bourgeoisie, up to the court of Henry VIII (Roberts 1993), of which he modulates intense portraits, which will make him one of the most acclaimed German artists between '400 and' 500 for his interpretation of the portrait in profile, front, trocar and full-length and half-length, made with the determination to leave to posterity a realistic and unmistakable image of the various personalities portrayed.