holy roman empire habsburgconcept:movement northern renaissance

The Ambassadors

Name: Provenio Provenance Knowledge Graph
License: https://provenio.art/terms

Oil on oak panel by Hans Holbein the Younger, 1533. National Gallery, London. Double portrait of Jean de Dinteville and Georges de Selve, French ambassadors at the English court of Henry VIII. Notable for the anamorphic skull in the foreground — one of the most famous examples of anamorphosis in Western art.

Notes

·The foreground anamorphic skull (only legible when viewed from the lower right edge of the panel) is one of the most elaborate examples of anamorphic distortion in art.
·The shelves between the two ambassadors are loaded with objects representing the sciences: globe, lute, case of flutes, sundials, arithmetic text. The lute has a broken string — a symbol of discord or disharmony.
·Painted in London in 1533, the year of Henry VIII's break with Rome; a crucifix is barely visible in the upper left corner behind the green curtain.
·Jean de Dinteville was French ambassador to England; Georges de Selve was Bishop of Lavaur and an envoy. Both were 29 years old in 1533.
·The painting remained in the Dinteville family until the 19th century. Purchased by the National Gallery in 1890.