Tracy Borman unravels the web of messages and secrets hidden in one of the most spectacular and mysterious Tudor paintings, Holbein’s the Ambassadors.

In 1533 England was in turmoil - Henry VIII had secretly married Anne Boleyn and had his marriage to Katherine of Aragon annulled.

This was the very year when these two ambassadors arrived in London. Their names were Jean de Dinteville and Georges de Selve, two men in their twenties on a mission for one of the most powerful men in Europe, Francois I of France - and with a second assignment for Charles V, the Holy Roman Emperor.

Tracy has special access to the National Gallery to explore and unpick the mass of details that fill the picture: globes, scientific and musical instruments, a hidden crucifix and a weird distorted shape that reveals mortality.  She also visits Westminster Abbey to stand on the exact spot where Anne Boleyn was crowned as Henry’s queen - our ambassadors would have witnessed this very moment.

This film has been made with special help from the National Gallery. You can find out more information here: https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/hans-holbein-the-younger-the-ambassadors

If you want to get hold of a copy of Tracy’s fascinating book on the Ambassadors, you can find it here:
https://shop.nationalgallery.org.uk/holbein-the-ambassadors-one-painting-one-story-1054455.html