Object Image

Jean de Dinteville and Georges de Selve ('The Ambassadors')

Jean de Dinteville, the man on the left, is shown on his second diplomatic mission to England on behalf of Francis I, King of France. To the right is his close friend, Georges de Selve, Bishop of Lavaur. This portrait was painted at a time of religious upheaval in Europe. Although the pope had refused to annul Henry VIII, King of England's marriage to Catherine of Aragon which resulted in a break with the Roman Catholic Church, in 1533 he married Anne Boleyn. The array of objects on the table seem to allude to discord; the arithmetic book, for example, is open at the page concerning mathematical division.

The portrait is a supreme display of Holbein's skill in composing images and in manipulat...

1533
Oil on oak
207.0 x 209.5cm
NG1314
Image and text © The National Gallery, London, 2024

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