The Catholic Church is the natural home of the human spirit. The odd perspective of life which looks like a meaningless puzzle at first, seen from that one standpoint takes on complete order and meaning, like the skull in the picture of the Ambassadors.Hilaire Belloc to G.K. Chesterton
upon hearing of his conversion to Catholicism
Just to make it easy I'm including the painting that Belloc was referring to. You can see the odd shape in the bottom of the picture which, viewed at just the right angle, is seen to be a skull.
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| The Ambassadors, Hans Holbein the Younger |
The distorted skull which is placed in the bottom centre of the composition, rendered in anamorphic perspective, is meant to be a visual puzzle as the viewer must approach the painting from high on the right side, or low on the left side, to see the form as an accurate rendering of a human skull.
Hence, Belloc's comparison. I must say, for my own part, Belloc hits the nail on the head. The world didn't make true sense to me until I looked at it through the lens of Church teachings.
Here's the skull, adjusted so we can see it as if we were the ones coming down the staircase.
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| The anamorphic skull, viewed at an oblique angle |
