Vanitas still life with candlestick, writing utensil, letter, pocket watch and anemone.
Pieter Claesz, 1625
Vanitas still life with candlestick, writing utensil, letter, pocket watch and anemone.
Pieter Claesz, 1625
Memento Mori! - Remember you must die!
Skulls.Since ancient times, at least as long ago as 7000 years BCE, human skulls were viewed with religious significance as part of ancestral worship. People turned from a nomadic lifestyle to settling down in one place and building houses under which they buried their dead. Once completely decayed, the skull was cleaned and displayed on a stand for worship. Mortality has always accompanied mankind wherever he went and his understanding of an afterlife has had a profound impact on his views of life itself.
A vanitas (Latin for 'vanity') is a symbolic work of art showing the transcience of life, the futility of pleasure, and the certainty of death, often contrasting symbols of wealth and symbols of ephemerality and death. Best-known are vanitas still lifes, a common genre in the Low Countries of the 16th and 17th centuries; they have also been created at other times and in other media and genres. An important proponent of vanitas still lifes was the painter Pieter Claesz (1596/97- 1660) who spent most of his life in Haarlem.
Vanitas paintings were not generally commissioned by the church. They were meant for home use by members of the congregation who were in most cases illiterate. The heavy symbolic displays in the paintings were to remind the viewers of the transcience of life and the inevitability of death and ascension to Heaven or Hell according to the kind of life one had lived.
Ecclesiastes 1:2
"Vanity of vanities; all is vanity."
Vanitas paintings were not generally commissioned by the church. They were meant for home use by members of the congregation who were in most cases illiterate. The heavy symbolic displays in the paintings were to remind the viewers of the transcience of life and the inevitability of death and ascension to Heaven or Hell according to the kind of life one had lived.
The painted still lifes, as made by Pieter Claesz, are full of symbolism, referring to transience; the flower fades, time passes, an inkwell is empty, a seal is broken, a candle burns out. Music no longer sounds, jewels refer only to vain display, and overripe fruit is depicted together with half-empty wine glasses to indicate the transitory nature of these earthly pleasures.
It goes back for centuries; these reflections on the meaning and meaninglessness of existence. The term 'memento mori' stems from the works of philosopher Socrates (+/- 469 BC to +/- 399 BC) who stated that philosophy in general is little more than a preparation for death.
The sense of death, being aware of our mortality, and in a way the act of keeping death close, can contribute to a sense of urgency in our lives. There is a power in the awareness of finiteness, and transition; a binding force, grounding us to the reality of life.
Doodshoofden. Lang geleden al, ruim 7000 jaar voor het begin van de Christelijke jaartelling, kregen menselijke schedels een speciale plek. De mensen begonnen zich te vestigen op vaste plaatsen en begroeven hun doden onder de huizen. Wanneer het lichaam vergaan was werd de schedel schoongemaakt en op een verhoging gezet.
Het beeld van de dood en de doden heeft de mens altijd vergezeld, en het feit dat we sterfelijk zijn, of althans in een heel andere vorm naar een heel andere plaats plachten te vertrekken, en in zekere zin ophouden te bestaan, heeft van oudsher tot nu een enorme impact op ons begrip van leven gehad.
A vanitas (Latin for 'vanity') is a symbolic work of art showing the transcience of life, the futility of pleasure, and the certainty of death, often contrasting symbols of wealth and symbols of ephemerality and death. Best-known are vanitas still lifes, a common genre in the Low Countries of the 16th and 17th centuries; they have also been created at other times and in other media and genres. An important proponent of vanitas still lifes was the painter Pieter Claesz (1596/97- 1660) who spent most of his life in Haarlem.
Vanitas paintings were not generally commissioned by the church. They were meant for home use by members of the congregation who were in most cases illiterate. The heavy symbolic displays in the paintings were to remind the viewers of the transcience of life and the inevitability of death and ascension to Heaven or Hell according to the kind of life one had lived.
Prediker 1:2
‘Vanitas vanitatum, omnia vanitas‘
‘IJdelheid der ijdelheden, alles is ijdelheid..’
In een moderne vertaling lees je ijdelheid als een overtreffende trap van leegte, van zinloosheid, van de vergankelijkheid en ijlheid van het leven.
Vanitas paintings were not generally commissioned by the church. They were meant for home use by members of the congregation who were in most cases illiterate. The heavy symbolic displays in the paintings were to remind the viewers of the transcience of life and the inevitability of death and ascension to Heaven or Hell according to the kind of life one had lived.
The painted still lifes, as made by Pieter Claesz, are full of symbolism, referring to transience; the flower fades, time passes, an inkwell is empty, a seal is broken, a candle burns out. Music no longer sounds, jewels refer only to vain display, and overripe fruit is depicted together with half-empty wine glasses to indicate the transitory nature of these earthly pleasures.
It goes back for centuries; these reflections on the meaning and meaninglessness of existence. The term 'memento mori' stems from the works of philosopher Socrates (+/- 469 BC to +/- 399 BC) who stated that philosophy in general is little more than a preparation for death.
Het doodsbesef, het bewust zijn van onze sterfelijkheid, en het in zekere zin ‘dichtbij houden’ van de dood, kan bijdragen tot een gevoel van urgentie in ons leven. Er schuilt een kracht in het besef van eindigheid,
en overgang; een grondende kracht, in de realiteit van leven.