Contemporary Vanitas
Source materials
Tablet
Medication
Table lamp or broken bulb
Wine glass or 1pt glass
Bottle of beer
Change machine
Digital camera
More items to follow
Symbolism of Vanitas
Source information: The Berkemeyer Project – The Renaissance of Dutch Golden Age Painting Through Photography. Author Levin Rodriguez.
Skull Death
Watch or hourglass The passing of Time
Books Knowledge
Artistic instruments Over indulgence in the arts.
Shell Symbols of wealth, only wealthy people owned them
Insects and or decaying flowers The passing of time
Broken or tipped up glass transience of life
Musical instruments Indulgence of the senses
Silk or velvet table cloths Wealth
Rugs and carpets wealth
Jewelry, clothes Beauty is only temporary
Mirrors Vanity
Jars Contents sustain life
The author does add that scholars even today argue the meaning of some of the objects in Vanitas.
Memento Mori or Vanitas
Article from Tate England/art & artists/learn 2016
Memento mori is a Latin phrase meaning ‘remember you must die’. A basic memento mori painting would be a portrait with a skull but other symbols commonly found are hourglasses or clocks, extinguished or guttering candles, fruit, and flowers.
Closely related to the memento mori picture is the vanitas still life. In addition to the symbols of mortality these may include other symbols such as musical instruments, wine and books to remind us explicitly of the vanity (in the sense of worthlessness) of worldly pleasures and goods. The term originally comes from the opening lines of the Book of Ecclesiastes in the Bible: ‘Vanity of vanities, saith the Preacher, vanity of vanities, all is vanity.’
The vanitas and memento mori picture became popular in the seventeenth century, in a religious age when almost everyone believed that life on earth was merely a preparation for an afterlife. However, modern artists have continued to explore this genre.
Personal note: Tate uses the same portrait (Edward Collier) to demonstrate both Memento mori and Vanitas, which is a little unhelpful.
The History of Vanitas – Encyclopaedia Britannica
- Originated in the Netherlands
- Originates from symbols painted on the back of portraits
- Became an art form in its own right about 1550
- By 1620 was a popular genre of art
- Purpose of Vanitas is to show the inevitability of death and the vanity of earthly pleasure of life
- Had strong influences in Leiden in the Netherlands which was also the home of Calvinism
- Vanitas was embraced by Calvinists who preached of man’s total depravity (TULIP)
- Symbols in Vanitas included, skulls, dead flowers, precision instruments, watches, wine bottles, silver, candles, bubbles and books.
The connection with Calvinism is that Calvinists preached a strict moral code to meet the challenges of what they saw as man’s total depravity. Their preaching’s where summed up in the mnemonic TULIP.
Total depravity
Unconditional Election
Limited atonement
Irresistible grace
Perseverance of the saints
This image was done in studio three on Thursday 29th September in the style of Steenwyck
LawriePhoto 