Dr Kat and The Ambassadors

hello and welcome back to the channel if you're new here hi you're very welcome this is reading the past and I'm dr. Kat now in previous videos I've mentioned how much I enjoy reading portraits and paintings in the way I would a text and today's video is no different today I'd like to look at one of my favorite paintings from the early modern period The Ambassadors by hands hope I'm the younger let's have a look at it Hans Holbein the younger was born in Germany in around fourteen ninety seven he is I would say probably the most famous and influential artist of his generation through his elaborate and beautiful work even his sketches we can come I to I face to face and see the very humanity of his subjects they are kings and queens princes and princesses the flowers of the nobility from the courts of Europe in the last decade of his life he seems to have been exclusively connected to the English court and it's while they're in 1533 that he paints the ambassador's as I talk about the ambassador's I'm going to be showing close-ups of various parts of the painting and also the whole image but if you want to see this live and in the flesh and I recommend that you do because it is startling and wonderful you're going to have to come to London and go to the National Gallery go to room 4 where this painting is on display I'm also going to link a video made by Susan Forester who works the National Gallery and she is talking about whole Bynes ambassadors particularly she's looking at the techniques that hope I'm used to create it as I mentioned I'm reading this picture as text she is reading it as an art historian but what she and I agree on is that this is a complex and contradictory image and I think that that is perfect because it was painted in complex and victory times 15:33 the year this painting is dated to is a tumultuous time in England it is the year that Henry the Eighth marries amberlynn having divorced himself not only from his first wife Catherine of Aragon but also from the Holy See of Rome 15:33 is also the year that the Princess Elizabeth who had become Elizabeth the first of England is born the two men depicted by Holbein in this image are ambassadors from King Francis of France on the Left we have Jean de dontevous he doesn't seem to have been particularly happy about this time spent in rainy England he wouldn't far rather have been back in his sunny lands in France but here he is and it is believed that he is the man that commissions Holbein to paint this image of himself and his very good friend George de sel at this point George iself has just been made bishop of Louisville he is only 24 to young even to be consecrated as bishop which perhaps explains why he is featured in this beautiful brown fur-lined gown it may look plain but make no mistake it is very expensive and sumptuous both men are finally and elaborately dressed however I think it's very important that we don't just look at the luxury that these men enjoyed and think well their lives are conflict-free and perfect because in 1533 the year when this painting is made England and Europe as a whole is experiencing division and strife conflict and confusion as Lutheran sets himself up in opposition to Roman Catholic the Holy Mother Church the sanctuary that these men would have grown up in is under threat it is splitting down the middle and people are taking sides and I believe that against that backdrop we can read this image more fully and understand all of the elements far more clearly so now I'm going to start with my close-ups looking at this image as the text I think it can be read as let's start reading this image from the ground up if we look at the floor on which these men's dad it is a cosmati pavement many argue and I agree that it is designed to represent the floor in Westminster Abbey which was laid in 1268 on the order of Henry the third of England significant work restoring this floor has been made and it took pride of place in the wedding of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge I'm going to show you the floor as it looks now as you can see there are a series of concentric circles it's meant to represent divine order the perfection of the spheres and heaven this floor has played a principal role not just in royal marriages but in every coronation ceremony since even when covered by carpet this has been the spot on which the kings and queens of England have been crowned moving up from the floor we come to two shelves and the objects on these shelves are arguably the things that create the most interest in this image it is these shelves and the objects on them that have created fascination for generations on these shelves are objects that can broadly be split between things to do with the earth and things to do with heaven the lower shelf has the earth objects and the upper shelf has heavens if we start with the bottom shelf working from left to right we see a terrestrial globe obviously to do with earth a compass for finding where you are on earth unsurprisingly we then also have things that are of earthly concern music and entertainment there is a lute and a case of flutes however clearing this image showed up new details and as we can see the lute has a broken string and one of the flutes from this case is missing next to these instruments is a hymn book it's a Lutheran hymn book and it's opened to a hymn to the Holy Spirit perhaps invoking a force that would unify a church that has been riven by schismatic divisions also in this lower shelf is a book of equations aimed at merchants it is held open by a ruler the page which lives health open to is the page from division the objects on whole lines lower shelf and the way he has chosen to represent them highlights his sense of discord and disorder that is being experienced on earth due to the split between the Lutheran's and the Roman Catholics what is interesting to me is that it doesn't seem like this work of art either because of the artists intention or perhaps the sitter's is coming down on one side or another yes there's a Lutheran hymn book on display it's in front of a broken lute and a case of flutes with a flute missing it's on a shelf where a book of arithmetic shows division is Holbein painting an image that puts the blame on the Lutheran's well perhaps not because the Lutheran hymn book is open to him that arguably is seeking to invoke a force that would bring back unity is Holbein perhaps representing the opinion of Georgia to self who in speech is called for the Lutheran's and the Roman Catholics to come together to find a way to come to peace he is not castigating the Catholics or the Lutheran's he is saying we must find a way to work together is that what Holbein is representing in this lower shelf let me know what you think in the comment section down below because I'm not sure myself and that's what I think is so fascinating about this image if it can be read in so many different ways and that is equally true of the objects on the top shelf as we move up to the top shelf the shelf that deals with the items of heaven we encounter cutting edge instruments for measuring time and studying astronomy these are objects that are designed to map the heavens to be used to navigate your way across the seas and perhaps across land they are used for telling time and the date we see a celestial globe and a portable sundial all of these items are found resting on a turkey carpet and as I mentioned in my discussion of the full-length portrait of Queen Catherine path which I'm going to link in a cart above placing people and things on Turkish carpets in this period connects to the European tradition of painting the Virgin Mary and child on Turkish carpets putting objects and people on these carpets connects them to the divine and that is I think what's happening here these are celestial measurement objects being placed in a Turkish carpet they are about measuring heaven but much like the objects in the lower shelf the items on the top shelf also defy one single reading of interest to me is the fact that the clock faces don't all line up they don't tell the same time similarly the navigational items appear to be improperly calibrated it doesn't strike me even if he was rushing but hands hope I'm the younger would make such a mistake as that arguably he could have had access to these very objects to look at we believe that Jean didn't feel as a keen astronomer and navigator had some of these objects also moving in the same circles as Holbein is the engineer Nicolas Kratzer Holbein isn't making a mistake he's making a choice but if all of the times are out of whack and if the navigational items are misaligned what is he saying is he saying that the divisions on earth are somehow infecting the heavens and creating chaos and confusion or is he saying something else should these items be read in a completely different way let me know what you think about that also in the comment section down below to explore the elements of this double portrait that has created the most discussion column inches confusion and arguably conflict we have to go back down to the bottom of the painting this object that before cleaning people had suggested might be a cuttlefish bone this strip of black and white and gray after cleaning someone decided to look at this painting from the right and below and this is what they saw an anamorphic skull it is unreadable when viewed straight on it only works from below and to the right so does this mean that this painting was designed to be hung somewhere incredibly specific by jean de daunt ville did he tell Holbein what position his painting would first be viewed from it is a memento mori a reminder that we all will die giulia walk off in an article on art CNET from the 17th of august 2018 also points out that this anamorphic skull obscures part of the cosmati pavement it obscures one of the orbs perhaps even earth is hole by pointing out the limitation of human vision that we cannot gain proper perspective on our lives because we are always focused on death and the life Hereafter or is it alternatively a reminder to forget earthly cares and think only of your eternal life is this a object designed to invoke fear in its viewer to remind them that their time on earth is fleeting and their salvation is not assured perhaps but then there is a sliver of hope for as we move up to the top left of the painting behind the curtain partly obscured is the crucifix it is the promise of life everlasting through Jesus Christ this face in the life everlasting this belief in the salvation through Christ is a factor of both the Lutheran and the Roman Catholic Church so regardless of the particular faith grouping which any viewer to this painting may belong to they may find themselves at first confronted by this large memento mori as they walk up from the bottom right of this painting then face on they see the discord in earth and heaven as they move past however and they come towards the left to leave the painting they are then reminded of hope the hope of salvation through Jesus Christ and faith in Him regardless of whether you are Lutheran or Roman Catholic everything I've talked about today is my interpretation my reading of this double portrait I love whole blinds work and I think that the ambassador's might be my favorite every time I've been fortunate enough to go to the National Gallery to sit in room 4 in front of this amazing image I found something else to focus on one day it's been the way in which the fur has been painted so realistic that you almost think that a breeze could blow it around another I've been totally taken by a black and gold tassel and the way it's been rendered with such spectacular detail but perhaps you read this image differently perhaps you think I've missed out a key element or component that I haven't talked about and therefore I've missed the thing that will unlock the meaning I'd love to hear it from you do let me know what you think in the comment section down below or you can come and find me over on my social media I'll be leaving the link to that in the description box follow me there and we can continue the conversation I hope you've enjoyed this video and found it useful if you did please let me know by clicking the like button please also subscribe to my channel and click the bell icon so that YouTube tells you when I've next uploaded I hope you're gonna have a great day whatever you're doing and I look forward to seeing you all in my next video take care of yourselves bye bye for now [Music] you [Music]

Channel: Reading the Past

Views: 7,916

Rating: 4.9764361 out of 5

Keywords: Hans Holbein, The Ambassadors, Art History, Reformation, Roman Catholic, Lutheran, Education, Literature, Culture, History, Early Modern, Renaissance

Id: rmYGt1PCm6c

Length: 15min 8sec (908 seconds)

Published: Fri Mar 29 2019