ART ANALYSIS: NORTHERN RENAISSANCE ART

 

THE AMBASSADORS PAINTING

The Ambassador painting is a double portrait by HANS HOLBEIN THE YOUNGER depicting two men standing beside a high table covered in objects. They stand on an elaborate abstract pavement, which has been identified as belonging to the sanctuary in Westminster Abbey in London. This artwork was created in the year 1533 and it was posted to https://smarthistory.org/hans-holbein-the-younger-the-ambassadors/

HANS HOLBEIN THE YOUNGER, The Ambassadors, 1533, oil on oak, (The National Gallery, London)

ELEMENTS OF ART

A. COLOR AS PATTERN

The table carpet between the two men is painted in an octagonal medallions pattern. The colors also entail other stylized patterns and sometimes border with Kufic, which is a type of Arabic calligraphic script. The carpet on the floor is also painted with amazing patterns of white, golden, and light-reddish colors. It is so amazing, looking like modern tiles.

B. PATTERN AS DECORATION

There are some decorative man-made patterns. The curtain behind the two men and objects is decorated with a green-colored pattern. Taking a close look by zooming in, it looks like the pattern of some flowery plant. This is repeated all over the peace of textile. Even though green is not my favorite color, the decorative pattern in the curtain oozes me.

C. THE ELEMENT OF LINE

The line is the foundation of all drawings. It is the first and most versatile of the visual elements that can be used to suggest shape, pattern, form, structure, growth, depth, distance, rhythm, movement, and a range of emotions.

The psychological response of Curved lines is that they express comfort and ease. For example, the curved lines that are visible on the piece of clothing worn by the man on the right. It is said that this was GEORGES DE SELVE, the bishop of Lavaur, France. He was only 25 years of age and a member of the nobility class and so surely he and his compatriot were full of comfort. The curved lines on the lower side of the lute too are another example.

Thin lines can express delicacy. On the lute, there are drawings of very thin lines which are actually the wire strings. When looked at keenly, there is a line (string) that has been broken probably because of its delicate nature. This broken line (string) symbolizes the discord that resulted from the Reformation.

D. OPTICAL TEXTURE

The anamorphic skull in the foreground is a delightful piece of painting that expresses the artist’s perfect use of optical texture. It is seen well when viewed at an angle and when you are not concentrating on the other details in the painting. Its verisimilitude nature to the real human skull, i.e. the eye sockets, the nose opening, teeth formation, the shape of the head, and even its color makes it hard to ignore.

CONNECTION TO THE REFORMATION INFLUENCE

On the shelf below the carpet, there is a lute with a broken string and a hymn book. “The lute’s broken string is thought to reference the discord that resulted from the Protestant Reformation, which the hymn book also calls to mind.”—DR. LAUREN KILROY-EWBANK. It is believed that MARTIN LUTHER (the German monk and professor of theology), who initiated the Reformation, composed the hymns shown in the open hymn book in the painting.

In 1517, POPE LEO X wanted to rebuild the church of St. Peters. He decided to sell indulgences to raise the money for financing the rebuilding. This was misunderstood by MARTIN LUTHER and others to mean that one could actually pay money to gain access to heaven directly. He therefore wrote out 95 theses and posted them at the door of the castle church in Wittenberg. The theses finally made their way to Rome. The German people translated the theses from Latin to German and used the printing press to distribute them widely. Even though LUTHER was accused of heresy by the Catholic Church, he gained strong support from the people.

In 1521, LUTHER was called to a large council in Vorms, Germany. The new Roman emperor at the time had summoned LUTHER and gave him the assurance of safe passage. He was asked by the teenage new Roman emperor whether he stood by the ideas of his theses, to which he gave an eloquent defense of the ideas in his books. While leaving Vorms, he was secretly kidnapped by the elector of Saxony and hidden away in the castle. While there, LUTHER translated the bible from Latin to the German language.  It was also at this point that he started writing the hymns. When he reached Wittenberg, he opened the Lutheran church and thus continued with the reformation efforts.

REFERENCES

Lauren Kilroy-Ewbank, “The carpet and the globe: holden's the ambassadors reframed,” smarthistory

Jerry Brotton, The Renaissance Bazaar: From the Silk Road to Michelangelo (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002)