National Gallery

I attended the National Gallery for class and searched for several benchmark pieces listed for us to find. There were several paintings for us to choose from, including paintings by van Eyck, Leonardo DaVinci, Van Gogh, and Seurat to mention a few. At the National Gallery, the painting that I found most appealing to me was The Ambassadors by Hans Holbein the Younger. This piece is extraordinary in several ways, first in the way that the artist was able to display the skull as somewhat of an optical illusion. The way in which the skull is rendered is meant to be a visual puzzle for the viewer. Second, this painting is a double portrait, containing a still life of several objects and the display of the skull. This piece shows two different men and their respective ideals, the man on the right dressed in clerical clothes along with various religious instruments, while the man on the left is dressed in secular clothes along with objects to measure time. Having the two men together in this painting is perhaps a symbolic representation of a unification of ideals. The skull is an obvious representation of death and mortality. Momento mori, it is a reminder that we are all mortal and that death is something that was all have in common. The term memento mori is one of a few latin phrases that I enjoy. There are several different translations of the phrase such as "remember that you are mortal," "remember you will die," or "remember your death," but they all share the same purpose, which is to remind people of their mortality.