Keywords: Ambassadors-lower-shelf.jpg Artwork Creator Hans Holbein d J Jean de Dinteville alternate titles detail lower-shelf<br> Jean de Dinteville an ambassador of Francis I of France in 1533 and Georges de Selve Bishop of Lavaur who visited London the same year Until the publication of Mary F S Hervey's Holbein's Ambassadors The Picture and the Men in 1900 the identity of the two figures in the picture had been a matter of intense debate In 1890 Sidney Colvin was the first to propose the figure on the left as Jean de Dinteville Seigneur of Polisy 1504 “1555 French ambassador to the court of Henry VIII for most of 1533 Shortly afterwards the cleaning of the picture revealed his seat of Polisy as one of only four places marked on the globe Hervey identified the man on the right as Georges de Selve 1508/09 “1541 Bishop of Lavaur after tracing the painting's history back to a 17th-century manuscript Hervey's identification of the sitters has remained the standard one affirmed in several extended studies of the painting However rival speculation is not entirely dead Opposition to the identification of de Selve has been based on an inventory of 1589 discovered by Riccardo Famiglietti which names the man on the right as de Dinteville's brother François Leading scholars of the painting argue that this identification of 1589 was incorrect 1533 oil tempera oak panel size cm 207 209 Institution National Gallery London Foister Susan; Ashok Roy; Martyn Wyld Making Meaning Holbein's Ambassadors London National Gallery Publications 1997 ISBN 1857091736 North John The Ambassadors' Secret Holbein and the World of the Renaissance London Phoenix 2004 ISBN 184212661X Rowlands John Holbein The Paintings of Hans Holbein the Younger Boston David R Godine 1985 ISBN 0879235780 139 “41 <br />Further reading Hervey Mary F S Holbein's Ambassadors The Picture and the Men An Historical Study London George Bell Sons 1900 http //www worldcat org/oclc/8256471 referer brief_results OCLC 8256471 object history provenanceEvent purchase 1890 LangSwitch von die the la de National Gallery London credit line accession number NG1314 WGA link 11552 http //www wga hu/art/h/holbein/hans_y/1535a/1ambassa jpg http //www wga hu/html/h/holbein/hans_y/1535a/1ambassa html <gallery> File Hans Holbein the Younger - The Ambassadors - Google Art Project jpg </gallery> painting portrait German 1501-1550 PD-old-100 Details of The Ambassadors Holbein lute Lutes in art Still-life paintings of musical instruments |