Seeking name of painting - King and advisors sat at table and a 3D amazing skull illusion above their heads?

Question

From memory the info I have is it was sent to the English King from the Monarchy of France. Looked very fine detailed art painting, but above their heads, running from left to right of painting, there was a blurry creamy swirly mess of paint.

However when you took a few steps to the right, the blurry mess exploded out from the painting as a 3D realistic skull of death.

I think it was a warning against breaking ties from the Vatican.

Would love to see that painting again, or a photographic representation.

Thanks.

Answer 1

Are you sure it's not The Ambassadors by Hans Holbien?

The Ambassadors
Full title: Jean de Dinteville and Georges de Selve ('The Ambassadors')

1533

HOLBEIN the Younger, Hans
1497/8 - 1543

NG1314. Bought with contributions from Charles Cotes, Lord Iveagh and Lord Rothschild, 1890.

This picture memorialises two wealthy, educated and powerful young men. At the left is Jean de Dinteville, aged 29, French ambassador to England in 1533. To the right stands his friend, Georges de Selve, aged 25, Bishop of Lavaur, who acted on several occasions as ambassador to the Emperor, the Venetian Republic and the Holy See.

The picture is in a tradition showing learned men with books and instruments. The objects on the upper shelf include a celestial globe, a portable sundial and various other instruments used for understanding the heavens and measuring time. Among the objects on the lower shelf is a lute, a case of flutes, a hymn book, a book of arithmetic and a terrestrial globe. Certain details could be interpreted as references to contemporary religious divisions. The broken lute string, for example, may signify religious discord, while the Lutheran hymn book may be a plea for Christian harmony.

In the foreground is the distorted image of a skull, a symbol of mortality. When seen from a point to the right of the picture the distortion is corrected.

Oil on oak
207 x 209.5 cm.


'The Ambassadors': Skull

This strange object is a skull, painted in distorted perspective known as an anamorphosis. It can best be seen standing at the right of the painting.

Many sixteenth-century European portraits include skulls as reminders of death. One contemporary noted 'people do cause their counterfeits to be made to see how time doth alter them…and to pray to God that as they do draw toward their end in this world, so they may be the more ready to die.'

Sometimes skulls were hidden on the back of pictures. Holbein cleverly concealed his skull on the front - a dramatic warning against faith in worldly achievement and wealth, depicted in the picture, instead of in the world to come, symbolised by the tiny crucifix in the top left-hand corner.

De Dinteville's skull hat badge must be similar to the 'little death's head' that the artist Albrecht Dürer bought in 1521.


Here's a site where you can view the painting.

http://www.artchive.com/artchive/H/holbein/ambassadors.jpg.html

Answer 2

dude- i would sell my organs to have been inolved with king diamond or mercyful fate the way you were in your story. i never used to like them back in the 80s but as time when on i started being a roady for local bands. sometimes i would get to hear songs played separately on different instruments, like i might hear the whole bass line for an iron maiden song with no other instruments being played or drums for a slayer song. because of this my ear got tuned in on each individual talent and sound and my appreciation for king diamond grew into an obsession. if i dont listen to a cd of his at least once a day, i go into withdrawals- and it isnt pretty, king diamond is truly a musical genius and i will listen to them til im deaf.I will follow him straight to the grave and beyond. AAAHHHH CONSPIRACY

Answer 3

i dont't know