Nadia Fusini's Essay on Holbein's 'The Ambassadors'
Nadia Fusini, an essayist and translator, has released a new essay entitled 'Il potere o la vita' (The Power or Life) through Il Mulino, offering a fresh interpretation of Hans Holbein the Younger's 1533 artwork 'The Ambassadors' (National Gallery, London). She characterizes Holbein's work as 'servile,' emphasizing its focus on surface rather than the artistic struggles seen in Dürer's pieces. Fusini draws attention to elements such as the damask curtain and the two figures: Jean de Dinteville dressed in a velvet coat and Georges de Selve in a modest robe. The essay explores metonymic contrasts and suggests that the broken lute string and absent flute symbolize the 1533 English schism, while the distorted skull challenges the ambassadors' authority, echoing existential themes in Shakespeare's 'Hamlet.'
Key facts
- Nadia Fusini published 'Il potere o la vita' with Il Mulino in 2021.
- The essay reinterprets Hans Holbein the Younger's 1533 painting 'The Ambassadors'.
- The painting is housed at the National Gallery, London.
- Fusini describes Holbein's painting as 'servile' in a non-pejorative sense.
- The painting depicts Jean de Dinteville and Georges de Selve.
- Fusini interprets the broken lute string and missing flute as references to the 1533 English schism.
- The distorted skull in the painting is visible only from an oblique angle.
- Fusini draws a parallel between the painting and Shakespeare's 'Hamlet'.
- The book is 168 pages and costs €12.
- ISBN: 9788815291721.
Entities
Artists
- Nadia Fusini
- Hans Holbein the Younger
- William Shakespeare
- Samuel Beckett
- Virginia Woolf
- Albrecht Dürer
- Jean de Dinteville
- Georges de Selve
Institutions
- Il Mulino
- Mondadori
- National Gallery, London
- Artribune
Locations
- Bologna
- Italy
- London
- United Kingdom