Renaissance Art: A Very Short Introduction by Geraldine A Johnson

Author:Geraldine A Johnson [Johnson, Geraldine A]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Art, European, History, Renaissance, Europe, General, Italy
ISBN: 9780192803542
Google: DgcdhXGwjFkC
Publisher: OUP Oxford
Published: 2005-04-21T18:29:46.326601+00:00

Portraiture an

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e rise of ‘R

enaissan

21. Hans Holbein the Younger, The Ambassadors, oil on panel, 1533 ce man’

time-telling, such as two quadrants and a sundial. On the lower shelf, besides the terrestrial globe, we also see an arithmetic book, a set of flutes in a case, a lute with one broken string, and a hymn-book. While this very diverse collection of items confirms that these are exactly the kinds of ‘universal’ men so admired by Burckhardt, the objects on the lower shelf in particular suggest that the image may well be more than just a visual enumeration of the sitters’ impressively varied interests. In fact, a number of items appear to evoke the theme of division and discord: the arithmetic book is open to a page headed with the Latin word for ‘divide’

( dividirt), the hymn-book is a well-known German Protestant publication left open to a hymn associated with the controversial figure of Luther himself, while the lute’s single broken string and 73

the fact that one flute from the set stored in the case is missing all emphasize disruption and disharmony. Interestingly enough, both men were actively involved in trying to soothe the religious and political differences that were engulfing Europe at the time, Dinteville through his work as the ambassador of the French Catholic monarch François I to Henry VIII’s court, and Selve by giving important speeches at conferences organized on the Continent to try to heal the ever-growing rifts between Protestants and Catholics.

However, the most striking – and certainly the most visually discordant – element in the entire painting is the strange grey shape that seems to float almost in front of the composition between the two men. This is actually a very complex anamorphosis, an intentionally distorted image that only becomes visually intelligible in this painting if the beholder stands on the right side of the t

painting and looks across its surface from a raking angle. From this ce Ar

position, the shape suddenly and almost magically turns into a hollow-eyed human skull, a symbolic reminder of death, mortality, naissaneR and the brevity of human life. It is, in short, a memento mori. (You can try to simulate this effect by holding the reproduction in the present volume at a right angle to your eye and then looking closely at the shape from this angle.) Other artists, especially those working in Northern Europe in the 15th and early 16th centuries, had also included skulls in some of their portraits, either positioned under a sitter’s hand or painted on the back of a picture. Likewise, playful anamorphosic images had become quite fashionable in courtly circles in the early 16th century. But the combination of these trends in the disturbing, distorted, free-floating skull seen in The Ambassadors was unique, a one-off.

Conclusion

The skull in The Ambassadors served as a visual testament to both Holbein’s skill as an artist and his sitters’ rather morbid fascination with death at a time of general religious and political unease. 74

Although from his letters, we know

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