The Ambassadors by Hans Holbein the Younger

One of my favorite ‘art easter eggs’ is found in Hans Holbein the Younger’s ‘The Ambassadors’. The painting depicts the two French diplomats Jean de Dinteville, the French ambassador to England, on the left, and Georges de Selve on the right, who had just been appointed the Bishop of Lavaur in France at the time this painting was made. Between them is a still life with many elements and symbols we recognize from the Vanitas genre discussed in earlier posts. But do you spot the skull? Try tilting your screen to the right and look at the floor, right in-between the two noblemen. The skull is painted in such a distorted way that the proportions only will become correct when viewed from a certain angle.