Amazing illusion painting in 4K, The Ambassadors (1533), by Hans Holbein the Younger

Music available on Bandcamp by clicking/tapping on this link: “The Ambassadors” is a painting from 1533 made by Hans #Holbein the Younger that features an anamorphic skull illusion. In this brief video we see how the illusion works when walking from face-on of the painting to the ideal spot for viewing the effect. With the unaided eye it is only properly visible from one angle. As far as I know, this video is the world’s first ever to correctly document the transition of the perspective effect using the original painting itself from fully face-on to its ideal angle. Skulls depicted in paintings of the time were added as a ‘memento mori’ meaning a reminder to not forget that we all will perish one day. The two men who figure in the painting are, on the left, Jean de Dinteville, French ambassador to the court of King Henry VIII at the time of the painting, and on the right, Georges de Selve, Bishop of Lavaur. “The Ambassadors“ p