(Above) Hans Holbein the Younger, Jean de Dinteville and Georges de Selve (‘The Ambassadors’), 1533. © The National Gallery, London
Freya McClelland visits The National Gallery to learn more about the intriguing technique of anamorphosis in art and the most famous example of anamorphic art, ‘The Ambassadors’ by Hans Holbein.
Anamorphosis is where art and mathematics collide: it uses distorted projection or perspective requiring the viewer to use special devices or occupy a specific vantage point to reconstitute the image."Ana - morphosis" comes from the Greek words meaning "formed again."
The most famous example of anamorphic art, ‘The Ambassadors’ by Hans Holbein, is a 16th century double portrait of two learned, rich and important men with books and instruments.
(Above) Johannes Vermeer, A Young Woman standing at a Virginal. About 1670-2. © National Gallery, London
At the left is Jean de Dinteville, aged 29, French ambassador to England in 1533. To the right stands his friend, Georges de Selve, aged 25, Bishop of Lavaur, who acted on several occasions as ambassador to the Emperor, the Venetian Republic and the Holy See.
The painting is rich is symbolic meaning. Objects on the upper shelf include a celestial globe and a portable sundial, and these symbolise of the French Royal Family, they are next to Dinteville to show his loyalty to his country while living abroad.
Various other objects are instruments used for understanding the heavens and measuring time and are more symbols of their Renaissance ideal of intellect. 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.
The broken lute string, for example, may signify the religious discord in the court of Henry VIII when the painting was completed. The iconography can be viewed then as subtly subversive in view of contemporary politics. The Lutheran hymn book may represent the wish for Christian harmony or Protestant capitulation to Catholic supremacy.
In the foreground is the distorted image of a skull rendered in anamorphic perspective placed in the bottom centre of the composition. It is meant to be nearly subliminal as the viewer must approach the painting nearly from the side to see the form morph into a completely accurate rendering of a human skull.
(Above) Carel Fabritius, A View of Delft, with a Musical Instrument Seller's Stall1652.© National Gallery, London
It is an astonishing image of mortality but, curiously, does not distract from the beauty and elegance of the painting.
While the skull is evidently intended as a vanitas, a reminder of the afterlife, it is unclear why Holbein gave it such prominence in this painting. One possibility is that this painting represents three levels: the heavens (as portrayed by the astrolabe and other objects on the upper shelf), the living world (as evidenced by books and a musical instrument on the lower shelf), and death (signified by the skull).
It may be a combination of these or simply that Holbein simply wished to show off his ability with the technique in order to secure future commissions and that the sitters wished to show they were impressed with and wanted to be associated with his skill.
It is not known what the contemporary reaction to this painting was. “Henry VIII had his portrait painted in exactly the same pose as Dinteville a few years later,” says James Heard, Head of Adult Education at the National Gallery. “This, considered with the fact that Holbein went on to become a Court artist, seems to suggest he not only know of the painting but had been impressed by it.”
The distortion is so effective that it was not until 1900 that Mary Hervey was working down some stairs and realized that what had previously been thought to be a strange mirror or fish was actually a play with perspective. She realised at once the image was a skull.
How the skull was made has puzzled scholars over the years. “There are many interpretations but no one accepted view,” says James. “That is one of the reason we have the experts on the day- to theorise.”
(Above) Samuel van Hoogstraten, A Peepshow with Views of the Interior of a Dutch House. About 1655 – 60. © National Gallery London
The gallery’s stunning peep-hole box by Van Hoogstraten is another intriguing example of the genre. Not quite a painting, not quite a place, but a space of illusion where chairs and a dog seem to inhabit an illusory three-dimensional hall. Through doorways beside the dog and at the far end of the hall are glimpses of the rooms beyond.
But when viewed through peepholes at either end of the containing box, the dog in the hall and the chairs seem to hover between the second and third dimensions, but seen from the side, where one wall of the box is open, the anamorphic trick is revealed.
