DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.61669#0024
HOLBEIN’S “AMBASSADORS”
the complex and fascinating setting in which the two friends are placed,
seem to call for something more than a mere chronicle of its story. It
is impossible to repress the question, what manner of men were these ?
or to resist the desire to know how far the actual circumstances of their
lives explain the choice of the many striking objects with which they are
seen surrounded. As a matter of fact, a closer acquaintance with the
mental atmosphere they breathed, and with the relations in which they
stood to contemporary thought and events, throws a flood of light on
many points which, at first sight, appear obscure. In the history of
their life and times is to be found the solution of any enigmas suggested
by their entoiirage.
Returning to the picture with the insight derived from the study
of their circumstances, it becomes clear that the composition is no less
logical in thought than symmetrical in design. The varied features pre-
sented by it, many of which deserve close inspection on their own merits,
assume new meaning and interest, whether taken separately or viewed in
certain combinations. Some glimpse is thus obtained, though it may
be but an imperfect one, of the intentions with which, more than three
centuries and a half ago, artist and owner built up the intricate harmonies
of their monumental work.
The subject thus falls naturally into four divisions. The first part
will be devoted to the history of the picture ; the second and third, to
the lives of the men it represents; the fourth, to some analysis of its
contents.
the complex and fascinating setting in which the two friends are placed,
seem to call for something more than a mere chronicle of its story. It
is impossible to repress the question, what manner of men were these ?
or to resist the desire to know how far the actual circumstances of their
lives explain the choice of the many striking objects with which they are
seen surrounded. As a matter of fact, a closer acquaintance with the
mental atmosphere they breathed, and with the relations in which they
stood to contemporary thought and events, throws a flood of light on
many points which, at first sight, appear obscure. In the history of
their life and times is to be found the solution of any enigmas suggested
by their entoiirage.
Returning to the picture with the insight derived from the study
of their circumstances, it becomes clear that the composition is no less
logical in thought than symmetrical in design. The varied features pre-
sented by it, many of which deserve close inspection on their own merits,
assume new meaning and interest, whether taken separately or viewed in
certain combinations. Some glimpse is thus obtained, though it may
be but an imperfect one, of the intentions with which, more than three
centuries and a half ago, artist and owner built up the intricate harmonies
of their monumental work.
The subject thus falls naturally into four divisions. The first part
will be devoted to the history of the picture ; the second and third, to
the lives of the men it represents; the fourth, to some analysis of its
contents.