“The Ambassadors” by Hans Holbein the Younger

“The Ambassadors” by Hans Holbein, the Younger, is a grand size masterpiece but highly detailed and full of symbolism.

Created in the Tudor Period in the same year Elizabeth I was born, this double portrait depicts two wealthy, educated, and powerful men.

On the left is Jean de Dinteville, French ambassador to England. On the right is Georges de Selve, bishop of Lavaur, who acted on various occasions as ambassador to the Emperor, the Venetian Republic, and the Holy See.

In the foreground is the distorted image of a skull, a classic Renaissance image with a universal message of human mortality. When this image is viewed from a point at the extreme right of the painting, the distortion is corrected, and the skull image is evident. 

Dinteville, who commissioned the painting and whose personal motto was:

“remember thou shalt die,”

may have requested the hidden skull was a symbol of the inevitability of death.

The anamorphic skull as restored by the viewing from the correct angle.

This painting follows the traditional style of the time, showing society’s elite with books and the new science instruments.

The top shelf objects include a celestial globe, a portable sundial, and various other devices used for understanding the heavens and measuring time.

On the bottom, the shelf is a lute, a case of flutes, a hymn book, a book of arithmetic, and a terrestrial globe.

During the same year, this painting was created, there was significant turbulent at the royal court. The period of turbulence included:

• Henry’s marriage to Catherine of Aragon is declared void.
• Henry VIII married Anne Boleyn.
• Cranmer, the Archbishop of Canterbury, declares Henry’s marriage to Anne valid.
• The Pope states Henry and Cranmer excommunicated.
• Anne Boleyn is crowned Queen.
• Anne gives birth to Elizabeth, the future Queen.

To mirror this turbulence, there are many interesting details and symbols in this painting:

• The dagger held by Dinteville, on the left, has his age 29, inscribed on the ornate scabbard.
• The book under Selve’s elbow has his age 25, written on its side.
• The book is a symbol of  Selve’s character as that of a contemplative nature.
• The dagger symbolizes Dinteville as a man of action.
• The mosaic floor is based on the medieval floor of Westminster Abbey.
• Under the lower table is the left-hand prong of the 6-sided star of David.
• The two figures are divided almost entirely by the plumb line at the center of the top shelf.
• Rome’s location on the globe on the lower shelf is the approximate geometric center of the almost square painting.
• The lute has one of its strings snapped, creating a visual representation of discord, symbolizing religious disharmony during the Reformation.
• A crucifix is half-hidden by a green curtain in the extreme top left corner of the painting, symbolizing the church’s division.
• The open book of music next to the lute has been identified as a Lutheran hymnal.
• The book of mathematics is open on a page of divisions which opens with the word “Dividirt.”
• With the cylinder sundial on the upper shelf, it is possible to set up the day’s specific date and time. It is 11th April 1533, which was a Good Friday at about 4 in the afternoon.

Some art critics have argued that the top shelf with its celestial globe, astronomy tools, and the hidden crucifix symbolizes the heavens and redemption.

With the terrestrial planet, the shelf below, a hymn book, the musical instruments, and the book of mathematics represents the living world, with the opportunity for joy and endeavor.

The ground level, where the skull dominates, depicts looming death.

Polyhedral Sundial

Hans Holbein the Younger

Holbein was a German and Swiss artist who traveled to England in 1526 and was welcomed into the humanist circle of Thomas More, where he quickly built a high reputation.

Later, he also worked under the patronage of Anne Boleyn and Thomas Cromwell. By 1535, he was King’s Painter to King Henry VIII.

His portraits of the royal family and nobles were a historical visual record of the court when Henry asserted his supremacy over the English church.

Holbein had deftly survived the downfall of his first two high patrons, Thomas More and Anne Boleyn, but Cromwell’s execution damaged his career.

Although he managed to keep his place as King’s painter, his career never recovered. The site of Holbein’s grave is unknown and may never have been marked.

The Ambassadors

• Title:             The Ambassadors
• Artist:           Hans Holbein the Younger
• Created:       1533
• Medium:       Oil on oak
• Dimensions: Length: 209.5 cm (82.5 in). Height: 207 cm (81.5 in).
• Museum:      The National Gallery, London

Hans Holbein the Younger

• Name:         Hans Holbein the Younger
• German:      Hans Holbein der Jüngere
• Born:           c. 1497 – Augsburg, Free imperial city, Holy Roman Empire
• Died:           1543 (aged 45) – London, England
• Nationality: German Swiss
• Movement: Northern Renaissance
• Notable work:
  • Sir Thomas More
  • Portrait of Henry VIII of England
  • The Ambassadors
  • Portrait of Thomas Cromwell

Holbein’s extraordinary ‘Ambassadors’ | National Gallery

Explore The National Gallery

16th Century Paintings

• “Virgin of the Rocks” by Leonardo da Vinci – 1506
• “The Madonna of the Pinks” by Raphael – 1507
• “The Raising of Lazarus” by Sebastiano del Piombo– 1519
• “Salvator Mundi” by Andrea Previtali – 1519
• “Bacchus and Ariadne” by Titian – 1523
• “The Ambassadors” by Hans Holbein the Younger – 1533
• “Mary Magdalene” by Girolamo Savoldo – 1540
• “Saint George and the Dragon” by Tintoretto – 1558
• “The Family of Darius before Alexander” by Paolo Veronese – 1567
• “Diana and Actaeon” by Titian – 1569
• “The Rape of Europa” by Paolo Veronese – 1570
• “The Death of Actaeon” by Titian – 1575
• “The Origin of the Milky Way” by Tintoretto – 1575

The Ambassadors: The Mysteries of Holbein’s Masterpiece

17th Century Paintings

• “Supper at Emmaus” by Caravaggio – 1601
• “Samson and Delilah” by Peter Paul Rubens – 1610
• “The Judgement of Paris” by Peter Paul Rubens – 1635
• “Aurora abducting Cephalus” by Peter Paul Rubens – 1637
• “Equestrian Portrait of Charles I” by Anthony van Dyck – 1638
• “Venus at her Mirror” by Diego Velázquez – 1651
• “Self Portrait at the Age of 63” by Rembrandt – 1669
• “A Young Woman standing at a Virginal” by Johannes Vermeer – 1670

18th Century Paintings

• “Bacchus and Ariadne” by Sebastiano Ricci – 1713
• “A Regatta on the Grand Canal” by Canaletto – 1740
• “Mr. and Mrs. Andrews” by Thomas Gainsborough – 1749
• “Eton College” by Canaletto – 1754
• “An Experiment on a Bird in the Air Pump” by Joseph Wright of Derby – 1768
• “Self-portrait in a Straw Hat” by Louise Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun – 1782

The Skull Illusion, The Ambassadors (1533), by Hans Holbein the Younger

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“Why employ intelligent and highly paid ambassadors and then go and do their work for them? You don’t buy a canary and sing yourself.”
– John Keats

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Photo Credit 1) Hans Holbein [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons 2)By Thomas Shahan (Hans Holbein’s “The Ambassadors”) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons