Vanitas Still Life at Life

Vanitas Still Life. A still life artwork which includes various symbolic objects designed to remind the viewer of their mortality and of the worthlessness of worldly goods and pleasures. The viewer of this still life is asked to ponder this philosophical question.

How vain and insignificant are human concerns, and, therefore, how important it is to turn to god. Painting by pieter claesz (museum: Vanitas still lifevanitas still life vanitas still life.

An Introduction to Vanitas Paintings

Originating in the netherlands during the 16 th and 17 th centuries, vanitas became a very widespread type of dutch master painting. Books, indications of intellectual pursuits, are also common elements in vanitas still lifes and may suggest that scholarly and creative achievements last beyond the short span of human life. Vanitas still life’s, which are associated with artists in northern europe in the 16th and 17th century, depict objects with symbolic importance, which convey a narrative through their symbolism. The term comes from the biblical book of ecclesiastes (1:2) vanity of vanities!