The Maze (painting) autobiography "Someone With Me" and his accounts for the Bethlem Royal Hospital, which houses the painting today. The rat spirit at the center cavity of the skull now has a view to the outside, but the outside world is not depicted as an attractive place either. Wheatfield backdrop: The backdrop of the painting is a wheat field being devoured by grasshoppers under the blazing hot sun (this derives from an incident on the Kurelek farm when William was a boy). Kurelek writes, "this refers to my belief that my problems stemmed in a large part from my father taking out
Hans Holbein the Younger including an anamorphic (distorted) skull. According to scholars, these are enigmatic references to learning, religion, mortality, and illusion in the tradition of the Northern Renaissance. Art historians Oskar Bätschmann and Pascal Griener suggest that, in "The Ambassadors", "Sciences and arts, objects of luxury and glory, are measured against the grandeur of Death". No certain portraits survive of Anne Boleyn by Holbein, perhaps because her memory was purged following her execution for treason, incest, and adultery in 1536. It is clear, however, that Holbein worked directly for Anne and her circle. He designed a cup engraved with her device of a