The picture, entitled "Jean de Dinteville and Georges de Selve," was painted by Hans Holbein the Younger in 1533 and is usually referred to as "The Ambassadors." At the feet of the two gentlemen is a distorted shape or anamorphosis. If you view the painting from just the right angle, you will see that this strange shape is a skull.
To get started on this topic, consult Anamorphic Art by Jurgis Baltrusaitis (1977), which has a whole chapter on Holbein's The Ambassadors.
You should also consult a paper in The Mathematical Gazette by Philip Hickin entitled Anamorphosis, v. 76, no 476, July 1992, pp. 208-221. Although there is a color reproduction of The Ambassadors on the cover of this issue, the article deals only with the mathematics of Anamorhic art.
The Science of Art, by Matin Kemp (Yale, 1990) also has some interesting information on this theme. Incidentally, and of local interest, the book jacket reproduces Laurent de la Hire's Allegory of Geometry, which hangs in the Toledo Museum of Art. His son, Philippe, is responsible for preserving Desargues's Bruillion project.
Holbein's Ambassadors by Susan Foister, Ashok Roy, and Martin Wyld was prepared for an exhibition after the painting had been restored. This is the best source on this topic that I know of. London: National Gallery Publications: Distributed by Yale University Press, c1997.
One of the advantages of computers is that it is now possible to search widely in a variety of academic disciplines. Recently I have been searching some topics in the Art History literature and have been amazed at the variety of things that are of interest to the historian of mathematics, but that one would never have found previously. So I encourage you to look there for this topic.
Return to the minicourse home page.
If you have comments, send email to V. Frederick Rickey at
fred-rickey@usma.edu .
Page revised 4 January 2003.