----- Original Message ----- From: Stewart McCoy <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: Lute Net <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: 23 October 2003 00:39 Subject: Re: Lute as a vanity
<snip> > We have been discussing Holbein's "Ambassadors" of late. The most > significant feature of this painting is the extraordinary skull > painted in the foreground towards the bottom of the painting., The > only way you can see that it is a skull is to view the painting with > your eyes virtually looking across the flat surface of the painting. I have heard it suggested that the painting was originally hung on a staircase, so that someone standing at the bottom of the stairs (if it was hung on the left) would see the skull "normally" and little else - another aspect of the symbolism? <snip> > By the way, it is perfectly understandable that Holbein should have > chosen the upper octave of the fourth course for his broken string. > Apart from the first course, that upper octave fourth is the > thinnest string on the lute, and so the most likely to break. > Martin's comment about the thin string being on the bass side (like > with the baroque guitar) may be hugely significant. In the Ambassadors the lute has the normal arrangement of octaves - it was the Berlin painting which seemed to show the upper octave on the bass side. Best wishes, Martin
