'The Ambassadors'

This is a very interesting painting with meanings on many different levels by way of agenda and technique. It is the deeply rooted symbolism that captures me most in this painting and bears the most significance.

'The picture is in a tradition showing learned men with books and instruments. The objects on the upper shelf include a celestial globe, a portable sundial and various other instruments used for understanding the heavens and measuring time. Among the objects on the lower shelf is a lute, a case of flutes, a hymn book, a book of arithmetic and a terrestrial globe.

Certain details could be interpreted as references to contemporary religious divisions. The broken lute string, for example, may signify religious discord, while the Lutheran hymn book may be a plea for Christian harmony.

In the foreground is the distorted image of a skull, a symbol of mortality. When seen from a point to the right of the picture the distortion is corrected.'

Artist Hans Holbein the Younger
Location The National Gallery, London
Date 1533
Source www.nationalgallery.org.uk