During a recent visit to London, I visited my “old friends,” The Ambassadors, at the National Gallery of Art. It’s a 16th-century masterpiece of Northern Renaissance painting by Hans Holbein the Younger. Part of its charm is its scale—measuring nearly seven feet square. Standing before it, you feel part of the meticulously detailed scene of French noblemen amidst a dazzling collection of objects celebrating science and the humanities. There are measuring instruments, geographic models, books, and an exquisite lute with a broken string painted so finely that it appears like a curl of human hair. Arguably, what makes this painting legendary is the peculiar anamorphic rendering of a human skull in the foreground. Studied by artists and scholars for hundreds of years, it still shocks visitors when they see it for the first (or tenth) time.
I recall one dignified curator explaining that Holbein transformed what looked like “a bird dropping on a windshield” into an unforgettable and historic visual enigma.
The author in front of his “old friends,” Jean de Dinteville and Georges de Selve (‘The Ambassadors’) by Hans Holbein the Younger; oil on oak; Bought, 1890; The National Gallery, London
As I admired the painting, two women joined me to my right. As they looked at the incredible detail in which Holbein rendered its subjects, I noticed they were puzzled by the odd shape at the bottom of the canvas. Approaching them, I asked, “Can I show you what this is?” The key, I told them, was to stand close to the gallery wall adjacent to the painting to get a sideways view of the mysterious shape. Moments later, I heard an audible “GASP” from both as the skull became visible.
It never fails to delight me, when someone has this kind of experience.
Video courtesy of the author.
What is anamorphic art? According to the University of Arizona’s Wyant College of Optics, “Anamorphic art appears distorted upon first glance. When that piece of art is viewed from a particular angle, or with a mirror or lens, the image becomes ‘normal.’”
With each visit to The Ambassadors, I discover hidden details I had previously missed. On this occasion, I noticed for the first time that the case for the lute was under the table and that a crucifix peeked out from behind the curtain on the upper left. However, the skull always holds my attention as I imagine what Holbein might have said when he first unveiled the painting to his client!
The principles of anamorphic design are put to good use in commonplace applications. For example, this technique is often used for traffic information on a roadway, whether an interstate marker or a crosswalk.
Urban advertising displays use this illusion for dramatic effect where brands, products, and other sensory images appear to break through a 2-D boundary and spill into open space. While I question the aesthetics in many applications, companies like d’strict and Led.Art offer a vast palette of technological innovations for environmental and immersive experiences.
Art like Refik Anadol’s crowd-pleasing video installation Unsupervised- Machine Hallucinations at MoMA in 2022 used this technology effectively to create a spellbinding array of flowing images and moving abstract shapes derived from the Museum’s collection. The Sphere in Las Vegas is his latest canvas.
In Düsseldorf, Germany, designer and illustrator Christoph Niemann collaborated with the Kunstpalast Museum to build a permanent multimedia environment that is a tour de force of anamorphic effects using mostly painted three-dimensional constructions.
Photo courtesy of Christoph Niemann.
According to the Encyclopedia Britannica, the earliest examples of anamorphosis appeared in Leonardo da Vinci’s notebooks. Perhaps this inspired Hans Holbein’s crazy skull. As we can see from the latest commercial and artistic applications of this curious visual device, the history of art is ALIVE as it continues to inspire and often confound us.
Ken Carbone is an artist, designer, and recipient of the 2012 AIGA Medal. He is a Senior Advisor to 50,000feet, a strategic branding and design firm with offices in Chicago, New York, and London.
Header photo of skull detail by author; Jean de Dinteville and Georges de Selve (‘The Ambassadors’) by Hans Holbein the Younger; oil on oak; Bought, 1890; The National Gallery, London