Holbein's "Ambassadors", the picture and the men

A detailed historical and iconographic study of Holbein's double portrait that reconstructs the identities, careers, and social milieu of the two sitters through published and previously unpublished documents and facsimiles. It traces the painting's provenance from the sixteenth century to museum acquisition and provides biographical chapters on Jean de Dinteville and George de Selve and their diplomatic missions. The author analyzes every painted object—the death's-head, dagger, insignia, celestial and terrestrial globes, books, instruments, lute, mosaic floor, and emblems—to interpret intellectual, religious, and political meanings. Numerous illustrations, appendices on related figures, and archival research support the narrative and technical examinations.