The Ambassadors (Holbein) been hypothesized that the painting is meant to hang in a stairwell, so that persons walking up the stairs and passing the painting on their left would be startled by the appearance of the skull. A further possibility is that Holbein simply wished to show off his ability with the technique in order to secure future commissions. Artists often incorporated skulls as a reminder of mortality. Holbein may have intended the skulls (one as a gray slash and the other as a medallion on Jean de Dinteville's hat) and the crucifix in the upper left corner to encourage contemplation of
Hans Holbein the Younger "Oberried Altarpiece", the "Solothurn Madonna", and the "Passion". Only when Basel's reformers turned to iconoclasm in the later 1520s did his freedom and income as a religious artist suffer. Holbein continued to produce religious art, but on a much smaller scale. He designed satirical religious woodcuts in England. His small painting for private devotion, "Noli Me Tangere", has been taken as an expression of his personal religion. Depicting the moment when the risen Christ tells Mary Magdalene not to touch him, Holbein adheres to the details of the bible story. The 17th-century diarist John Evelyn wrote that he "never saw