The scientific instruments in Holbein's "Ambassadors": a re-examination

• Autores: Elly Dekker, Kristen Lippincott
• Localización: Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes, ISSN 0075-4390, Nº 62, 1999, págs. 93-125
• Idioma: inglés
• Texto completo no disponible (Saber más ...)
• Resumen

  • The writer re-examines the scientific instruments in Holbein's The Ambassadors. He concludes that none of the dials in the painting depicts a scientific instrument showing the time, although it can be argued that the artist has created a series of references in the work to indicate some specific “iconographically significant” time. He maintains that all of the instruments, with the exception of the Pillar Dial, are of innovative and new design, quite expensive, and of German manufacture, and that it would seem safe to say that a contemporary viewer would have seen this as the main message in their selection. He also examines Nicolaus Kratzer's role in the work, and suggests that it might be time to re-evaluate the painting's status as a jewel of early Tudor painting in the light of its German and French connections.