Hans Holbein, the Ambassadors

Hans Holbein

The Ambassadors

❦Introduction

The Ambassadors is one of the most complex and arguably portrait which Holbein had painted. The purpose of this report is to analyze Han HolbeinÐ'Ѓfs painting, Ð'ЃgThe AmbassadorsÐ'Ѓh. The main task of this report is to uncover the meaning of this painting, as it still remains unclear. Firstly, I will give a short introduction about the painter. Then, I will examine the characteristics of the people and the objects in the painting. Lastly, I will attempt to identify the meaning of the painting.

❦About Han Holbein

Hans Holbein the younger was a German artist born in Augsburg, Bavaria. He was an outstanding portrait and religious painter and his works ranges from woodcuts, glass paintings, illustrating books, portraits and altarpieces. Hans Holbein was also the appointed court painter to Henry VIII of England in 1536. It is estimated that during the last 10 years of his life, Holbein painted approximately 150 portraits of royalty and nobility and he also designed costumes, silverware and jewelry for the court.

HolbeinÐ'Ѓfs other famous art works include the remarkable woodcuts piece, Ð'ЃgThe Dance of DeathÐ'Ѓh and illustrations for Luther's Bible, the Ð'ЃgMadonna of Burgomaster MeyeÐ'Ѓh altarpiece. Unfortunately, Holbein died in London in 1543 during a plague epidemic.

❦The Ambassadors

This painting was painted at the time that Henry VIII was trying to divorce his first wife Catherine of Aragon so he could marry Anne Bolyne, the second of his six wives.

Character: Two men in the painting

The character to the left is Jean de Dinteville, aged 29, French ambassador to England in 1533. To the right stands his friend, Georges de Selve, aged 25, Bishop of Lavaur, who acted on severalÐ'Ѓ@occasions as ambassador to the Emperor, the Venetian Republic and the Holy See. Dinteville wearing an opulent, fur-lined coat and decorated with the Order of St. Michael, while de Selve's clothes are more restrained. The French ambassador Dinteville was on an official visit from France to calm the growing tensions between Henry VIII, King of England, and Pope Clement VII. On the other hand, De Selve mission was to represent the interests of the Catholic Church. Two of them are good friends and this painting was painted during DintevilleÐ'Ѓfs visit to London.

Objects on the Top Shelf

There are a number of scientific instruments placed on the top shelf. From left to right, the tools include a Celestial globe, ShepherdÐ'Ѓfs dial, Table Quadrant, Simple Quadrant, Small Dial, Polyhedral sundial and a Torquetum.

Most of these items are related to the study of heavenly bodies and the subject of astronomy. The Celestial globe is used to observe the positions of the stars and other celestial bodies. The Two Quadrant are used to read time, it allows the height of the sun and the angle to the horizon to be calculated. A sundial is an instrument used to measures apparent solar time, by measuring the position of the shadow of the sun as it changes through the day. The Torquetum is an object used to determine the relative position of heavenly bodies and tell the time. According to the experts, the sundials reveal that it is 10:30 am on April 11,1533. This tells us that exact date and time of DintevilleÐ'Ѓfs visit to London.

Objects on the Bottom shelf

Among the objects on the bottom shelf are a Terrestrial globe, a Arithmetic book, a set-square, a pair of dividers, a lute, German hymn-book and a case of flutes.

The terrestrial globe shows the map of central Europe and if you have a close look on it, you can actually spot the word Ð'ЃgPolisyÐ'Ѓh which indicate the estate Jean de Dinteville owns in France. The Arithmetic book next to the globe is partly open. The first word visible on the opened page begins with Divide. It might be indicating the political division, disharmony in Europe. Next to it is a lute that has a broken string. According to the experts, the broken strings might be another indication of discord in Europe with the reformation and Henry VIII in the process of divorcing Catherine of Aragon against the wishes of the Pope. Now direct your attention to the hymn-book placed just below the lute. The hymn-book shows an open page with two hymns. The left page is Come Holy Spirit and the right page shows the Ten Commandments. The writings on these two pages are visible and clear compare to the arithmetic book. The weird part is neither Jean de Dinteville nor Georges de Selve was a Protestant. Maybe Holbein is the one who added it in but why?

It is often been said that the objects placed in Holbein's portraits refer to the intellectual interests and professional and practical activities of the sitters. Base on this fact, various objects placed between the men might be to show that they were familiar with the latest scientific tools of their age.

The various objects also symbolize their many interests in science, astronomy, arithmetic, music and so on. On the other hand, it is very questionable if these items really belongs to the two men because it looks huge and too heavy to be carried around easily.

❦Mysterious Objects

In my opinion, the most important and mysterious object of this painting would