It must be acknowledged, though, that Mr Hockney's views are not shared by the majority of art historians. As always, caveat emptor. Brad
On Fri, Feb 4, 2011 at 1:40 PM, Jackie Jones <jac...@waitrose.com> wrote: > Dear All, > > To read more about the structure of *The Ambassadors*, I can recommend *Secret > Knowledge* by David Hockney (Thames and Hudson, 2001). He discusses, > amongst other topics, the different vanishing points of the 2 books on the > lower table, suggesting that they seen from different viewpoints at > different times. To get the accuracy in the picture, he believes they used > a room camera obscura and a camera lucida. The scull could have been > distorted so accurately by tilting the surface onto which the image is > projected; Hockney has squeezed it back into shape on a computer. > > Best wishes, > > Jackie Jones > > > > *From:* sundial-boun...@uni-koeln.de [mailto:sundial-boun...@uni-koeln.de] > *On Behalf Of *Kevin Karney > *Sent:* 04 February 2011 16:49 > *To:* patrick_pow...@compuserve.com > *Cc:* sund...@rrz.uni-koeln.de > *Subject:* Re: Google's Art Project and dialling > > > > Now take a look at Holbein's *Nicholas Kratzer, *painted in 1528 which is > in the Louvre (copy in National Portrait Gallery). Kratzer was a German > mathematician, astronomer and instrument maker who worked as King Henry > VIII's astrologer. He was a drinking friend of Holbein. Find his picture in > the Wikepedia entry for Nicholas Kratzer. > > > > Holbein was probably using Kratzer's instruments in the Ambassador's > picture, which was painted a few years later in 1533. Same shepherd's dial, > same strange instrument, same polyhedral dial (but unfinished), same little > dial-like thing with the spike and square hole on his table. > > > > Best regards > > Kevin Karney > Freedom Cottage, Llandogo, Monmouth NP25 4TP, Wales, UK > 51° 44' N 2° 41' W Zone 0 > + 44 1594 530 595 > > On 4 Feb 2011, at 07:59, patrick_pow...@compuserve.com wrote: > > > > > After only recently learning of the Google Art Project, I looked at > Holbein's *Ambassadors *today and like many others I was amazed at the > resolution. This huge painting, it's not far off 7ft square, is here in > London at the National Gallery and it is now available to view under > Google's Art Project at: > > > > http://www.googleartproject.com/museums/nationalgallery/the-ambassadors > > > > Painted in 1533 it has the most interesting collection of contemporary > dialling equipment all of which are painted in immense detail. There are > two globes (one terrestrial and one celestial), a quadrant, a torquetum, a > polyhedral dial and a shepherd's dial and some others I don't know, all of > which are set in such a way as to tell some 'story' to the understanding > viewer. > > > > Until now it has been almost impossible for a sundial-interested visitor to > the gallery to attempt to understand much of the detail - there just isn't > time - but now with this view you can. You can even see for yourself the > four place names marked on the terrestrial globe (one of which helped to > identify one of the depicted persons as Jean de Dinteville, the Seigneur > of Polisy) and you can even read the music and words in the open book and > guess at the date and time shown on the shepherd's dial.. > > > > It doesn't (I think) help with viewing the anamorphic skull as a skull - or > at least you still have to turn your monitor round to do so! - and I STILL > don't understand the object behind the shepherd's dial... Anybody know what > that might be? > > > > Patrick > > > > > > --------------------------------------------------- > https://lists.uni-koeln.de/mailman/listinfo/sundial > > > ------------------------------ > > No virus found in this message. > Checked by AVG - www.avg.com > Version: 10.0.1204 / Virus Database: 1435/3422 - Release Date: 02/04/11 > > --------------------------------------------------- > https://lists.uni-koeln.de/mailman/listinfo/sundial > > >
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