Douglas Barker: Hans Holbein's "The French Ambassadors and the Secret Horoscope"

Douglas
Barker: Hans Holbein's "The French Ambassadors and the Secret Horoscope"



The year is 1533, King Henry VIII has
England as well as the Continent in an uproar over his plans to take over the
Church in England and divorce his very Catholic Spanish queen, Catherine of
Aragon, who has been unable to provide him with a male heir. (He has already
secretly married his latest mistress Anne Boleyn and Henry needs the divorce
before her pregnancy shows.)



However, the pope has refused to grant an annulment. Jean de Dinteville, the
French ambassador, walks a tightrope of diplomacy as he attempts to smooth
relations between Henry and Francois I, the French King. Both England and
France are threatened by the increasing power of Charles V, the Holy Roman
emperor and king of Spain, but France is also closely allied with the Church in
Rome.



And the great German Renaissance master, Hans Holbein, residing in London,
paints his most outstanding - and enigmatic - work, a double portrait of de
Dinteville and his close friend Georges de Selve, the French envoy to the
Vatican. The still-life painting within a painting on the table between the two
men is astounding in its accuracy and includes astronomical instruments that
seem on close inspection to point to . . . what?



To hear the rest of this fascinating story including the meaning of some of the
mundane objects as well as the strange objects in the foreground of the
painting, and to find the horoscope concealed in the painting and what it
reveals - you're just going to have to come to experience this
slide-illustrated lecture.



Bio:

Douglas Barker is an art historian who has taught well over a hundred courses
at various colleges. He has also been a professional astrologer for over twenty-five
years and has conducted several tours of art museums in Europe. Additionally
Douglas always reveals in his lectures the esoteric meaning hidden in plain
sight in many conventional art masterpieces. Be prepared to enjoy some
outstanding examples of some Renaissance masterpieces!