HOLBEIN’S AMBASSADORS: ON THE TECHNOLOGICAL ABSTRACTION AND CONCRETIZATION OF DEATH

Although Hans Holbein´s painting The Ambassadors,1533, has been the object of much interest and research, thespecific importance of scientific instruments and technologyremains largely unexplored, or has played only a peripheralrole in the investigations. In this article an attempt ismade to analyze the significance of scientific instrumentsrepresented in the painting to the artistic practice andstrategies of Hans Holbein, especially in the creation of ahighly abstract and intellectual pictorial space. Drawingon the writings of Martin Heidegger and Norman Bryson,Holbein´s depiction of scientific instruments is discussedin relation to the impact of the sciences in early modernityand the production of new perspectives on the dimensionsof space and time.