What have these two got
in common?
&
Hans Holbein the Younger
The Ambassadors
&
Anamorphosis
The Ambassadors, 1533
The full title is
Jean de Dinteville and Georges de Selve, the French Ambassadors
• 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
Click your mouse for the labels to appear
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 JeanFrançois Niceron
wrote a book on
anamorphosis
• He worked out a
grid for producing
anamorphic pictures
Leonardo Da Vinci
was 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
William Scrots,
1546
The National
Portrait Gallery,
London
Van Hoogstraten’s
peepshow box
The National
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 by
Colin 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
anamorphosis?
• artwork
• illustration
• road-markings
• advertising