The ambassadors
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| The ambassadors |
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| Hans Holbein the Younger , 1533 |
| oil on wood |
| 206 × 209 cm |
| National Gallery (London) |
The Ambassadors is a well-known painting by Hans Holbein the Younger , created in London in spring 1533. Original size 206 cm × 209 cm. It hangs in room four of the National Gallery in London.
analysis
In 1900 Mary Hervey identified those portrayed as the diplomats Jean de Dinteville (left), French envoy to the court of Henry VIII of England in 1533 , and Georges de Selve (right), who had become Bishop of Lavaur at the age of seventeen was, also in 1533, French ambassador to the court of Henry VIII of England. For a long time before, the picture had given art history a riddle that could only be solved with the identification of the sitter.
The historical title The Envoys indicates that both had a political mission in 1533. It is possible that the portrayed were friends and wanted to keep their friendship as a memento with this double portrait. However, it is unknown who commissioned the painting.
The double portrait itself is one of Holbein's outstanding works in the painter's life, which is not poor in artistic highlights. As in other portraits by Holbein, the focus is on the detailed reproduction of people and attributes such as clothing and furnishings. The two-tier shelf between the two depicted lists objects and topics in which de Dinteville and de Selves will be equally interested: astronomical and mathematical measuring instruments (above) as well as theological (hymn book), geographical and musical attributes. In this respect, the portrayed are identified, if not as humanists, then at least as lovers of the sciences and thus become representatives of a highly educated class. In addition, painting claims a place in the canon of the classical sciences, the septem artes liberales, by virtue of its realistic portrayal potential .
The unsettled and unsettled details within the picture include the crucifix with a matt, silvery sheen at the top left, as well as the anamorphic skull. The skull can only be seen from an extreme close-up view from right to left below. It can probably be ascribed to a vanitas symbolism, but at the same time underlines the painterly abilities as an optical illusion. The crucifix, on the other hand, in times of religious conflicts refers to the salvation-historical core of the Christian message and, in view of the scientific attributes, may admonish the unity of Christianity. It is also noticeable that a Catholic bishop can be depicted with a hymn book with Luther songs.
In his book The Ambassadors' Secret , published in 2002, the science historian John David North, who teaches in Groningen , explains on the basis of a close examination of the globes and the two sundials , the quadrant and the torquetum , that all these instruments share the location and time of the scene depicted in the painting denote April 11, 1533, between three and four o'clock in the afternoon in London. In 1533, Good Friday fell on April 11th, and Christ died on the cross at three o'clock in the afternoon, according to the Bible, at the age of 33. In the picture an angle of 27 ° appears again and again in several places, so u. a. in the open hymn book , in the arithmetic book , in the polyhedral sundial and in the torquetum. The skull is stretched at an angle of 27 ° to the lower edge of the picture. 27 is the third power of 3, the number of the Holy Trinity , 3 3 = 3 × 3 × 3 = 27. The position of the sun in the first hour of Christ's death at four in the afternoon was 27 °. However, the thesis does not seem conclusive in all places, especially since the author, as a non-art historian, does not correctly classify all the details. However, the thesis demonstrates the relevance of multiple interpretations that provide interpretations on different levels; a generally valid interpretation has not yet been able to establish itself in science.
Details
The anamorphosis of the skull, shown obliquely in the foreground, strongly distorted, dissolves into a normal view if one looks down at the image of the skull from the horizontal at an angle of 27 ° from the right edge of the image.
When looking up from this point at an angle of 27 °, an imaginary line emanating from the eye first crosses the astronomical instruments, then Dinteville's left eye and finally the crucifix at the top left of the picture, almost hidden behind a green curtain . The anamorphosis can thus, according to North, be understood as an instruction to the viewer.
The “arithmetic book” is the 400-page book Eyn newe and Wolgegründte Underweysung of all Kauffmans bill in three books: with beautiful rules un vragstucken understood (short “The merchant bill ”) by Peter Apian , printed in 1527 in Ingolstadt.
The open hymn book is the tenor voice book of the second edition (Worms 1525) by Johann Walters Eyn geystlich Gesangk Buchleyn with the Luther songs " Kom heiliger geyst " and "Mensch wiltu leben blessed".
literature
- Mary Hervey: Holbein's Ambassadors, the picture and the men. A historical study. George Bell and Sons, London 1900.
- Karl Georg Heise: Hans Holbein the Younger, The Ambassadors. (= reclam monograph on fine arts. n ° 43 ). Stuttgart 1959.
- Konrad Hoffmann: Hans Holbein the Younger, The Ambassadors. In: Festschrift for Georg Scheja on his 70th birthday. Sigmaringen 1975.
- Bertrand Rouge: Angle du mort et pli baroque: l'éllipse dans les Ambassadeurs de Hans Holbein: rhétorique, géométrie et perspective. In: Ellipses, blancs, silences. Actes du colloque du CICADA, 6-7-8 December 1990. Pau, Paris 1992.
- Peter Cornelius Claussen: The double bottom among Holbein's envoy. In: Abundance, Festschrift for Tilmann Buddensieg. 1993, pp. 177-202.
- Susan Foister, Ashok Roy, Martin Wyld: Making and Meaning: Holbein's Ambassadors. The National Gallery, London 1997.
- Jeanette Zwingenberger: Hans Holbein the Younger. The shadow of death. Parkstone, Bournemouth 1999, ISBN 1-85995-497-9 .
- Etty Dekker, Kristen Lippincott: The Scientific Instruments in Holbein's Ambassadors. In: Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes. 62, 1999, pp. 93-125.
- Andreas Edel: Unlimited possibilities? Reflections on the double portrait of the French ambassadors Jean de Dinteville and Georges de Selve by Hans Holbein the Younger from 1533. In: Archive for cultural history. 82, 2000, pp. 37-66.
- John David North: The Ambassadors' Secret, Holbein and the World of the Renaissance. Hambledon and London, London 2002.
- Steffen Siegel: The center is on the edge. The art of looking very closely: John North reveals the secret of Hans Holbein's 'envoy'. In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. May 27, 2002. ( faz.net )
- Tristan Weddigen: In the perspective of death - Holbein's 'envoy' and painting as an exact science. In: Martin Gaier et al. (Ed.): The incorruptible look. Porta Alba, Trier 2005, pp. 369-384. doi: 10.5167 / uzh-74532
- Mauro Zanchi: Hans Holbein il Giovane. (= Dossier art. 302). Giunti, Firenze 2013, ISBN 978-88-09-78250-1 .
- Daniela Fährmann: Review of John North in: Kunstchronik. Volume 57, Issue 4, 2004.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Hans Holbein the Elder J .: The Ambassadors (Jean de Dinteville and Georges des Selve), 1533. (PDF) Musisches Gymnasium Salzburg , accessed on February 11, 2015.
- ↑ Andreas Mertin: The hymn book of the ambassadors. An exploration of church music politics. 2016, accessed November 5, 2016 .