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Rating: 
Summary: Understand the difference between looking and seeing
Review: Art, history, religion, alchemy - these and more are the tantalizing ingredients with which John David North creates a singular work. "The Ambassadors' Secret" is a look at Hans Holbein's painting of Jean de Dinteville and Georges de Selve, two important 27-year-old Frenchmen who were in London in 1533. Even on the surface of things, this portrait is an unusual work: the two Ambassadors stand at either side of a curious collection of bric-a-brac that seems to be the real focus of the painting. North shows us how these items can be interpreted to determine a number of things, such as the date on which the two men are depicted (April 11th, 1533 - Good Friday). He discusses the nature and significance of the rhomboid shape at the men's feet, a geometrically perfect distortion of a human skull. Was the artist merely showing off by throwing in such a diabolically complex element, or was the skull meant to be a comment on the fleeting nature of life compared to the higher forces (time, the elements, religion) alluded to by the knickknacks on the shelves? Why is one string on the lute broken? Why does the painting suggest so many multiples of 3, even the men's ages, 3 x 3 x 3? Possible answers to these and many other questions are addressed by North, and once you've read this book, you will delight in looking at the painting again and seeing all the things you overlooked whenever you first encountered it. Whether you approach this book for serious inquiry into an obviously intentional riddle, or just for entertaining scholarly conjecture about the intent of one of history's great painters, you are sure to enjoy it.
Rating:
Summary: Understand the difference between looking and seeing
Review: Art, history, religion, alchemy - these and more are the tantalizing ingredients with which John David North creates a singular work. "The Ambassadors' Secret" is a look at Hans Holbein's painting of Jean de Dinteville and Georges de Selve, two important 27-year-old Frenchmen who were in London in 1533. Even on the surface of things, this portrait is an unusual work: the two Ambassadors stand at either side of a curious collection of bric-a-brac that seems to be the real focus of the painting. North shows us how these items can be interpreted to determine a number of things, such as the date on which the two men are depicted (April 11th, 1533 - Good Friday). He discusses the nature and significance of the rhomboid shape at the men's feet, a geometrically perfect distortion of a human skull. Was the artist merely showing off by throwing in such a diabolically complex element, or was the skull meant to be a comment on the fleeting nature of life compared to the higher forces (time, the elements, religion) alluded to by the knickknacks on the shelves? Why is one string on the lute broken? Why does the painting suggest so many multiples of 3, even the men's ages, 3 x 3 x 3? Possible answers to these and many other questions are addressed by North, and once you've read this book, you will delight in looking at the painting again and seeing all the things you overlooked whenever you first encountered it. Whether you approach this book for serious inquiry into an obviously intentional riddle, or just for entertaining scholarly conjecture about the intent of one of history's great painters, you are sure to enjoy it.
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