You have just clicked on one of the most unusual objects in this or any other painting. The object is a deliberately distorted skull! When viewed head on it is almost unrecognizable. However, when viewed from an acute angle from the right it suddenly assumes a normal shape. Known as an anamorphosis, distorted images were very popular in Tudor England. But, what does the distorted skull mean?
Art historians have suggested three possible reasons why Holbein inserted the distorted skull into "The Ambassadors." First, it provides a vivid contrast with the symbols of human achievement on the table between the two ambassadors. The skull is thus another one of the four symbols Holbein painted to remind us of the transience of human endeavors. Second, the skull may signal Holbein's belief that the ambassador's mission will fail. Henry will ignore their plea for harmony and plunge Europe into a terrible and fateful crisis. And finally, the skull may be a clever pun on Holbein's name. In German, "hohle bein" means "hollow bone!"
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