A painting a day · No. 6 of 38
The Ambassadors
Hans Holbein the Younger (c. 1497–1543)
1533 · Oil on oak panel · The National Gallery, London
The story
Two young Frenchmen at the court of Henry VIII: Jean de Dinteville, the ambassador, and his friend Georges de Selve, a bishop. Between them sit globes, instruments and books — everything that 1533 knew about the world.
Look closer
- The grey smear across the floor is a skull, painted in stretched perspective. Stand close to the right-hand edge and look back along the picture: it snaps into shape.
- The lute on the lower shelf has a broken string.
- In the top-left corner, half hidden by the green curtain, is a small crucifix.
Did you know
The National Gallery bought it in 1890. The skull is a reminder of death — the one fact that all the learning on the shelves cannot change.
Why we can show it
Hans Holbein the Younger died in 1543. UK copyright lasts for the artist’s life plus 70 years, so even under today’s rules this painting would have been free for anyone to show since 1614. The photograph is a faithful copy of a flat work, which creates no new copyright. We do not store the picture: it comes from Wikimedia Commons each time it is needed. More on this.