Hans Holbein, The Ambassadors Essay -- essays research papers

Hans Holbein The Ambassadors ❦Introduction The Ambassadors is one of the most complex and arguably portrait which Holbein had painted. The purpose of this report is to analyze Han Holbein?fs painting, ?gThe Ambassadors?h. The main task of this report is to uncover the meaning of this painting, as it still remains unclear. Firstly, I will give a short introduction about the painter. Then, I will examine the characteristics of the people and the objects in the painting. Lastly, I will attempt to identify the meaning of the painting. ❦About Han Holbein   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Hans Holbein the younger was a German artist born in Augsburg, Bavaria. He was an outstanding portrait and religious painter and his works ranges from woodcuts, glass paintings, illustrating books, portraits and altarpieces. Hans Holbein was also the appointed court painter to Henry VIII of England in 1536. It is estimated that during the last 10 years of his life, Holbein painted approximately 150 portraits of royalty and nobility and he also designed costumes, silverware and jewelry for the court. Holbein?fs other famous art works include the remarkable woodcuts piece, ?gThe Dance of Death?h and illustrations for Luther's Bible, the ?gMadonna of Burgomaster Meye?h altarpiece. Unfortunately, Holbein died in London in 1543 during a plague epidemic. ❦The Ambassadors This painting was painted at the time that Henry VIII was trying to divorce his first wife Catherine of Aragon so he could marry Anne Bolyne, the second of his six wives. Character: Two men in the painting The character to the left is Jean de Dinteville, aged 29, French ambassador to England in 1533. To the right stands his friend, Georges de Selve, aged 25, Bishop of Lavaur, who acted on several?@occasions as ambassador to the Emperor, the Venetian Republic and the Holy See. Dinteville wearing an opulent, fur-lined coat and decorated with the Order of St. Michael, while de Selve's clothes are more restrained. The French ambassador Dinteville was on an official visit from France to calm the growing tensions between Henry VIII, King of England, and Pope Clement VII. On the other hand, De Selve mission was to represent the interests of the Catholic Church. Two of them are good friends and this painting was painted during Dinteville?fs visit to London. Objects on the Top Shelf There a... ...how the way Holbein had drew the skull. According to the experts, it?fs real shape could only be seen by the viewer on a certain angle. I suspect that when the viewer look at it the right angle, the real shape will reveal but the other part of the painting would not visible in the viewer?fs eye. This is very interesting as it might have another deep meaning to the painting. Maybe Holbein was trying to suggest that the two men look at things at a different angle and think differently. If they could think flexibly, they might be able to find a way to persuade Henry VIII . Was Holbein trying to hint Jean de Dinteville and George de Selve to think at a different perspective to complete their mission? The distorted skull might be an indication that if both men ?es thinking are distorted and not on the right track, it will lead to the failure of the mission. Whatever it is I personally think that this painting has a message to it but of all the analysis made by the expert, nobody can be sure of the real meaning of the painting except the artist himself. References: Foister, Susan, Roy Ashok & Martin Wyld, Making & Meaning: Holbein?fs Ambassadors, London : Yale U.P., 1997

Power of Situations Essay

In the,† The power of situations†, by Lee Ross and Richard E. Nisbett, the authors are trying to show the power of situations effecting the decisions of the people, how people react in different situations. The authors are trying to prove that social psychology rivals philosophy in teaching people that they do not understand the true nature of the world. The above claim is supported by two experiments, the Good Samaritan experiment by Darley and Batson, and the bystander effect experiment. The authors purpose was to prove how situations effect out actions, they were successful in proving it by acquiring such positive results in both of the experiments. The authors argue the difference in the point of view of the undergraduates and graduates of social psychology about the human behavior. Undergraduates who while taking their courses finds many facts about human behavior, it makes them feel satisfied with information, whereas graduates who have studied the human behavior fo r a long time have a challenged point of view towards the causes of human behavior than undergraduates. According to the authors small detail in an incident does not matter, what matters is the situation in which the incident took place. Authors argue about how the social psychology surpasses philosophy while making a decision. Even graduate students with years of experience, are not certain in predicting human behavior under peer pressure. In the end the authors talk about the â€Å"fundamental attribution error† it says that people who consider the personality traits and common tendencies in predicting the human behavior are proven wrong. They often fail to take into consideration the situational factors that affect the behavior. The bystander effect is used by the authors to prove that predicting ones behavior is impossible if we take into considerations the insignificant details. In this experiment the subject is John who is put in a situation in which he sees a man by the door asking for help, we are supposed to predict the behavior of John. A normal person would take into consideration the specific details of the situation and predict the behavior; this will result into a wrong prediction, the details of the circumstance does not helps predicting johns behavior, only the situation  and the actions of other bystander is considered while predicting ones behavior. The author is successful in proving the bystander effect on a person in any situation. There are many other experiments conducted world-wide proving the effect of bystander intervention. One of the most famous experiments was one conducted by Latane and Darley, in which participants were kept in a room and smoke was released in it, the percent of participants who reported the smoke decreased as the participants increased in a room. A special thing about this bystander effect is that: the more bystanders present when help is needed, the less assistance any of them will provide. The authors have mentioned another experiment conducted by Darley and Batson named â€Å"The Good Samaritan† experiment. It is a study of how people react to an emergency in different situations and levels of urgency. The researchers had three hypotheses to prove via this experiment: 1. People who are religious does not act any different those who are not, in a situation. 2. People in a hurry are less likely to help others. 3. People who are religions in a Samaritan fashion will be more likely to help than those who are not. The researches gave a task to certain amount of people, and on their way going the other side of building, they were faced with an emergency situation, and the researchers were to record how many participants helped in that situation. The results of this experiment were very promising regarding one of the hypotheses, that people in a hurry are less likely to help others. The results proved that no matter how we think about a situation, our actions are not the same. Other thing that authors point-out is the â€Å"Fundamental attribution error† it means that people always try to predict a human behavior by observing their personality-traits, rather than observing the situational factors. Observing personal traits never help in predicting someone’s actions, it is the situational factors that help us predict human behavior. There are many other experiments by different researches which concurs with the claim of Ross and Nisbett, that how the situations affects the human behavior, and by manipulating the situation, we can change the outcome of behavior, some of them are, Sherif’s â€Å"Autokinetic Paradigm† showed how group dynamics can influence group behavior, Solomon Asch’s experiment of social  pressure, Tajfel showed that even the mere classification of people into groups can elicit partisan group behavior. The results and statistics of the authors claim were very accurate, and well supported by other researchers. WORKS CITED The Bystander Effect, Web. 1 Jan. 2010. Darley, J. M., and Batson, C.D., â€Å"From Jerusalem to Jericho†: A study of Situational and Dispositional Variables in Helping Behavior†. JPSP, 1973, 27, 100-108. Ross, L., and Nisbett, R. E., The Person and the Situation, 1991. Chapters 1 and 2.

Web Design Certifications - Beginner Through Advanced

So you have become quite the master of web design. Your pages look fabulous and you are pretty sure this is what you want to do for a living. If you are also looking for a way to make your skills stand out in the pile of resumes on the desk of a future employer, then you might want to consider a webmaster certification. There are quite a few web design certifications out there that will test your ability to design, code, and implement web pages and sites. Although many are oriented towards the beginner, there are also a few very advanced certifications that will elevate you to the level of Web Master. Beginner Web Design Certifications Beginner web design certifications focus on page layout, use of graphics, HTML, use of browsers and style sheets. These will start you on the path to more advanced certifications. CIW Associate:Â  The CIW Associate certification only requires one exam. Its referred to as the Foundations exam and must be passed before going on to any other CIW track. The exam covers internet, page authoring, and networking basics. Earning the CIW Associate also qualifies you for the CWP Associate CertificationCWD (Certified Web Designer):Â  The CWD certification is offered by the Association of Web Professionals (AWP). You will need basic internet and design knowledge to pass the single exam. The exam is given online by Jupiter Systems, who are the current sponsors of the AWP. A Web Manager and Technician Certifications are also offered by the AWP. These are more intermediate certs and focus less on design.CAW (Certified Associate Webmaster): The CAW certification is offered by WOW and covers most of the basics with a focus in markup and scripting. One exam is required, costs $125 and is available through VUE.HTML Developer Certificate from W3C:Â  The World Wide Web Consorti um (WC3) is the group that sets the standards for the internet. They offer a basic, 70 question exam that results in a certificate and tests you on HTML, XHTML, and CSS. All the materials needed to study are free on the site so, considering the source and the cost, this is a great choice for a certification.​BCIP (Brainbench Certified Internet Professional):Â  Brainbench offers several good certification preparation exams. In addition, you can apply several of the skills exams to get the BCIP certification. It requires 4 exams in total and a couple of them are free. Most run from $20 to $50, making this a very affordable certification and an excellent way to test your skills in preparation for more advanced certs. Intermediate Web Design Certifications Expect to have knowledge of coding and scripting along with some solid job experience to jump to the intermediate level of certification. AWP (Associate Webmaster Professional): Sponsored by WebYoda, the AWP requires one exam. Exam topics cover Internet Fundamentals, basic and advanced HTML XHTML knowledge, and expertise with CSS.Coldfusion MX Developer Certification: If you have experience with programming languages and one year of working with Coldfusion, you are eligible for this exam. It consists of 66 questions. A score of 80 percent or above will earn you an Advanced Developer Certification.DreamWeaver MX Certification:Â  Proficiency in Dreamweaver plus experience with coding, graphics, and website management will help you with this exam. The exam is 65 questions and you must score 70 percent or better to pass.Flash Certification: Macromedia offers two tracks for the Flash certification: Flash MX Designer and Flash MX Developer. Each requires one 65 question exam. The Designer exam requires knowledge of Flash motion design, optimization, and publishing. The Developer exam requires knowledge of relational databa se design along with one to two years of experience in software development web design.MCTS (Microsoft Certified Technology Specialist): This certification was created for anyone developing on .NET Framework 2.0 Web Applications. You must pass two exams, one focusing on the .NET Framework 2.0 foundational skills and another focusing on Web-based client development. From here you can take one additional exam to obtain the MCPD: Web Developer certification. Advanced Web Design Certifications Advanced certifications will require that you expand your horizons well beyond proficiency in internet and design concepts. Depending on the cert you choose, you will now need to master e-business, marketing, security, management, and more advanced scripting skills. CIW Master:Â  There are several tracks for CIW Master candidates to choose from, including Administrator, Developer, Web Site Manager, and Security Analyst. Each track requires multiple exams on a variety of subjects.CWP:Â  The CWP certification requires that you hold the AWP certification and take one exam. Although training offered by WebYoda (the sponsor of the CWP) is recommended, it is not required. The exam covers web design graphics, e-business concepts, intermediate Java skills, and e-marketing concepts.Global Knowledge Webmaster:Â  This certification is achieved through a serious of lecture and lab classes covering Java (or Perl), advanced web design, databases, and XML development. Want a way to validate your awesome web design skills? Get Certified. So you have become quite the master of web design. Your pages look fabulous and you are pretty sure this is what you want to do for a living. If you are also looking for a way to make your skills stand out in the pile of resumes on the desk of a future employer, then you might want to consider a webmaster certification. There are quite a few web design certifications out there that will test your ability to design, code, and implement web pages and sites. Although many are oriented towards the beginner, there are also a few very advanced certifications that will elevate you to the level of Web Master.