What have these two got in

common?&&

Hans Holbein the YoungerThe

Ambassadors&

Anamorphosis

The full title is

Jean de Dinteville and Georges de Selve, the French Ambassadors

The Ambassadors,

1533

• The portrait was painted to celebrate the reunion of two wealthy young friends, who were ambassadors from the French Court

• The picture is full of symbols and hidden meanings

Symbolism 1

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Symbolism 2

Anamorphic drawing

• Anamorphosis derives from a Greek word meaning to transform or change shape

• It is a distorted image that appears in its true shape only when viewed from a certain oblique angle

• It can only be viewed correctly by one person at a time

• Holbein may have used a grid to construct the distortion

The Geometry of Anamorphosis

• In the seventeenth century a French monk called Jean-François Niceron wrote a book on anamorphosis

• He worked out a grid for producing anamorphic pictures

Leonardo Da Vinciwas also interested in the technique.

These drawings were found in his sketchbooks:

Why didn’t Leonardo use the technique in

his paintings?

Can you suggest any reasons?

Other Renaissance artists

Van Hoogstraten’s peepshow box

The National Gallery, London

William Scrots, 1546

The National Portrait Gallery, London

Other uses of Anamorphosis

•Anamorphosis is often used in road markings: here the signs are stretched to be read correctly by a driver.

• Advertising logos painted on the grass for rugby matches are designed to be read correctly from the angle of TV cameras.

Contemporary art 1• The Vauxhall Station

mural in London was designed by William Pye in 1986

• Unfortunately, it was destroyed during refurbishment in 2002

• It consisted of four different anamorphic images, which needed to be viewed from four different locations, marked on the floor

Contemporary art 2• "Passing Through"

was designed byColin Wilbourn in 1997

• It ‘s part of the St Peter’s Riverside Sculpture Project in Tyne and Wear

• This anamorphic galleon is sited on the bank of the river Wear

Year 8 pupil work

Can you find other examples of Can you find other examples of anamorphosis?anamorphosis?

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