Additional notes to a jigsaw puzzle I assembled 10 years ago!

 10 ears ago (I never thought that it was such a long time ago!)

I assembled the masterpiece "The Ambassadors" by Holbein.

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This 500-year-old portrait seems ordinary, but it's one of the most mysterious in art history.

 The painting shows French diplomat, Jean de Dinteville, on the left and bishop Georges de Selve on the right. On the top shelf are devices with the celestial realm: a celestial globe, sundial, torquetum. Below are objects of the earthly realm: another globe, musical instruments, and notation.

- you can read every musical note on the small page

- the rug is so detailed, that you "feel" every stitch

All their accomplishments are on display: the globe even shows the position of Jean de Dinteville's château in Polisy

 Look closely and you'll notice the lute has a single broken string — a symbol of some kind of fracture.

 

 Next to the lute, a book of hymns by none other than Martin Luther. This painting was made when the Protestant Reformation was in motion. 

Look at the celestial globe. It shows the sky on April 11, 1533 — Good Friday. 

Precisely 1,500 years after the death of Christ.

 You noticed that strange blur in the foreground. It's an anamorphic

 Even the floor is important, because Holbein chose the mosaic floor of Westminster Abbey, 

itself a diagram of the cosmic order.

 

Finished 3rd August 2014

500 Pieces

The Ambassadors - by Hans Holbein the Younger

This is a noteable painting of the early 16th century with many informations about the intense of the anamorphic skull and the names of the Ambassadors. Please find out more here

The original painting measures 2x2 m and is on display in the National Gallery, London.