The Ambassadors | Hans Holbein | KROMOS

Why did Hans Holbein the Younger place an impossible skull at the feet of two ambassadors? This episode follows Jean de Dinteville and Georges de Selve through the politics of Tudor England, the instruments on Holbein’s shelves, a broken string, and one startling shift in perspective. Seen from a low, oblique angle, the distortion resolves into a skull. A hidden crucifix offers another possible reading, while the painting resists one final explanation. Change your point of view—and the painting changes with you. KROMOS. More than meets the eye. Artwork: Hans Holbein the Younger, The Ambassadors (1533). National Gallery, London. Artwork image: Google Arts & Culture / Wikimedia Commons. Artwork source: https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/pa... Image source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi...