DR. STEVEN ZUCKER:
This is a painting that's actually about
the things we can't see. DR. BETH HARRIS: We're looking
at Holbein's "The Ambassadors" from 1533 here in the
National Gallery in London. On the left, Jean
de Dinteville, he was an ambassador from
France living in England. And on the right, Georges de
Selve, his friend, a bishop, and also an ambassador. DR. STEVEN ZUCKER: Both of
these men are in England. And Holbein, who
was a Swiss painter, had moved to England because
he could get work here. And in fact, within a short
time after making this painting, he would actually
become the painter to the King of
England, Henry VIII. DR. BETH HARRIS:
King Henry VIII is about to break away
from the pope in Rome, from the Catholic Church. And we know that the French
ambassador was in England to keep an eye on Henry VIII
during this tumultuous period. DR. STEVEN ZUCKER: And we
see, within the painting, references to the turmoil that
is taking place in England. But it's all within an
even greater context. DR. BETH HARRIS: So let's
start with the two men. We see Jean de
Dinteville on the left. And he's the one who
commissioned this painting. And he's the one whose
house the painting hung in. And he's obviously
represented as an enormously wealthy and successful man, with
his fur-lined cloak and velvet and satin clothing. And-- DR. STEVEN ZUCKER:
He holds a dagger. DR. BETH HARRIS:--He
holds a dagger, on which is inscribed
his age, which was 29. So he is a very young man. And Holbein really
described his clothing with a sense of
clarity and detail that we expect of that
northern tradition that Holbein comes from. And then on the right,
Georges de Selve is dressed more
modestly in a fur cloak. DR. STEVEN ZUCKER:And he's
got his elbow on a book. And it really is an
interesting kind of contrast. We have that dagger on the one
side and the book on the other. References which are actually
quite traditional to the active versus the contemplative life. DR. BETH HARRIS: And
Georges de Selves, the book that he's
got his elbow on has inscribed on it
his age, which is 25. Of course, we're meant
to look at both of them. But even more than
that, perhaps we are meant to look at what's
in the middle of the painting, which is all these objects on
these two levels of shelves. DR. STEVEN ZUCKER: Holbein is
just brilliant in his ability to render textures
and the material reality of those objects. And of course, they
also mean something. DR. BETH HARRIS:
On the top shelf we have objects that are
related to the heavens. To the study of astronomy,
and to the measuring of time. And on the lower shelf,
things that are more earthly. We have a terrestrial
globe and a lute, and a book about arithmetic. And a book of hymns. DR. STEVEN ZUCKER: The painting
is functioning basically as a grid. On the left, you
have the active life. On the right, you have
the contemplative life. At the top, you've got
the celestial sphere. At the bottom, the
terrestrial sphere. Look at the beautifully
foreshortened lute on the bottom shelf. Lutes were traditionally
objects that were rendered in order
to learn perspective. And here, there is just this
masterful representation of the way in which that lute is
much shorter than it should be, because we're seeing it on end. But if you look very
closely, and it's possible because of Holbein's
high pitched clarity, you can see that one of the
strings is actually snapped. It's broken. DR. BETH HARRIS:Art historians
understand this as referring to the discord in
Europe at this time. The discord in the church. DR. STEVEN ZUCKER:That can
also be seen in the hymn book, which is just below that. It's open, and it's
so precisely painted that it can actually be read. It's a translation of a hymn
by Martin Luther-- of course, the head of the
Protestant Reformation. So all of this luxury,
we haven't even mentioned, for instance,
the Oriental carpet. All of these objects, all
the extraordinary fashion that they wear. All of this stands
on a mosaic floor with this beautifully
detailed tiling. And it's seen in perfect
linear perspective. And this is a reference
to an actual floor at Westminster Abbey. And what's important to
know, is that that floor, in that church, is
actually a kind of diagram, and it's meant to represent
the macrocosm, that is, the cosmic order. DR. BETH HARRIS: If we look
at the very large form that occupies the foreground-- DR. STEVEN ZUCKER: You
know, I had a student once that when she
looked at this said, it looked like a piece of
driftwood that had somehow been placed down oddly
in the foreground. DR. BETH HARRIS: It does. But when you go to
the right corner of the painting, and kind
of crouch down a bit-- DR. STEVEN ZUCKER: Or look at
it in a mirror at an angle. DR. BETH HARRIS:--What
we're really looking at is an anamorphic image. A kind of image that's
been artificially stretched in perspective. DR. STEVEN ZUCKER: And it's
a skull, a human skull. DR. BETH HARRIS: It's
something that you can't see when you can see the
other things in the painting. But it's something
you can see when you don't see the other
things in the painting. DR. STEVEN ZUCKER:So
you have a choice. You can either stand in such
a way as to see the skull, but then everything
else is distorted. Or vice versa. Front and center
in this painting, really, in a sense, the
star of the painting, is this skull, which is a
traditional symbol of death. DR. BETH HARRIS: A memento mori. DR. STEVEN ZUCKER: That's right. A reminder of death. And that's a very common element
that we see in paintings. But here, we have a painting
that seemed for a moment to be celebrating these
earthly achievements. And now seems to be
under cutting it. DR. BETH HARRIS:Exactly. DR. STEVEN ZUCKER: And then, if
you look even more carefully. In the extreme upper left
corner of the painting, peeking out from
behind the curtain, you can just make out a little
sculpture of a crucifixion. DR. BETH HARRIS: But then
you have this question that goes back to Holbein. And that is about
representation. So you have the lute
that you referred to that's perfectly
foreshortened. Or that floor that's a perfect
perspectival allusion also. So this ability to render
reality so perfectly. And then you have
Holbein choosing to represent the skull
in an unnaturalistic way. So choosing to represent
the earthly things in a realistic way, but
choosing to represent that which is
supernatural, or that which is transcendent, in
a way that is not according to that
perfect illusionism. DR. STEVEN ZUCKER: And
I think Holbein really wants us to see that contrast. Look at the relationship
between the lute and the skull. The skull is
distorted so extremely that it really is hard to read. But when you think about
stretching something, you generally think about
stretching it horizontally, or perhaps vertically. But to do so diagonally
is very particular. The lute is resting
on that shelf. And I had mentioned before, that
it was heavily foreshortened. It really is foreshortened
at an angle that is very close to the angle of
the distortion of the skull. But remember, foreshortening
is another kind of distortion. And so in a sense, they
are both distortions. But one is a distortion that
creates a reality of our world as we see. But it's a reminder
that perhaps what we see is not really truth. DR. BETH HARRIS: That's right. It's not all there is. DR. STEVEN ZUCKER: So hold
on, because this painting was all about what these
men had achieved in life. DR. BETH HARRIS: And
what human beings had achieved
historically, as far as investigation of the world. And so the two
elements that are half hidden in this painting,
the crucifix and the skull, point to the limits
of earthly life, the limits of earthly
vision, of man's knowledge, and the inevitability
of death and the promise of Christ's sacrifice
on the cross.