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| The Ambassadors. |
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o Holbein altered the dance of death into a sequence of everyday scenes
where Death is about to catch the humans -
who are often at the peak of their careers. In this context we may better understand
Holbein's famous painting The Ambassadors from 1533.
The painting shows the two French ambassadors at the English court, Jean de Dinteville and Georges de Selve. Both are powerful men in their 20'ies and are surrounded by books and instruments that symbolise their many interests.
In front, above the floor, a strangely twisted figure is floating. If you go to the National Gallery in London and look at the painting from the right (or if you cheat and use Ulead PhotoImpact) it turns out to be a skull. Art historians are quick to tell us that this was a popular device in Holbein's time, but they have yet to find other examples of anamorphic skulls to back up their claims.
nother skull is hiding in the band of Jean de Dinteville's cap (see pictures to the left and right).
This is hardly what you would expect to see on an ambassador in full dress!
Why are there two skulls in the picture? One of the more fanciful explanations is that they are Holbein's signature: A picture puzzle for "hollow bone", which in German would be Holbein. The most simple and obvious explanation, however, is that the skulls are a "memento mori": Death lurks everywhere, everyday - just like in Holbein's dances of death.
The dance of death
Holbein
The Ambassadors
