http://worldcat.org/entity/work/id/56418599

Holbein's Ambassadors

"The Ambassadors" is the greatest of all Holbein's surviving paintings and one of the great masterpieces of the National Gallery's collection. Painted in London in 1533 this painting shows Jean De Dinteville, the French Ambassador to the court of Henry VIII, together with his friend, the churchman Georges de Selve. Between them is painted an extraordinary collection of objects but the painting's most puzzling element is the distorted image of a skull stretched out below. This video places "The Ambassadors" in the context of Holbein's career particularly his work in England. It considers the possible meanings contained within this complex portrait and examines the methods used by Holbein in painting this and his other portraits. The distorted skull is a supremely accomplished technical feat and here computer technology is used to help shed light on the way in which Holbein may have constructed it and the manner in which it was intended to be viewed.

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