HOLBEIN’S AMBASSADORS: ON THE TECHNOLOGICAL ABSTRACTION AND CONCRETIZATION OF DEATH
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Abstract
Although Hans Holbein´s painting The Ambassadors,
1533, has been the object of much interest and research, the
specific importance of scientific instruments and technology
remains largely unexplored, or has played only a peripheral
role in the investigations. In this article an attempt is
made to analyze the significance of scientific instruments
represented in the painting to the artistic practice and
strategies of Hans Holbein, especially in the creation of a
highly abstract and intellectual pictorial space. Drawing
on the writings of Martin Heidegger and Norman Bryson,
Holbein´s depiction of scientific instruments is discussed
in relation to the impact of the sciences in early modernity
and the production of new perspectives on the dimensions
of space and time.
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