The Anatomy of Vanitas

If you pay close attention to the vanitas paintings of the 17th century, you will notice several recurring themes. These traditional paintings are laden with lemons, candles, fruit, flowers, and the ever popular and perhaps most iconic of all, skulls. At first glance you may think that the objects were chosen due to the antiquity of the time, or because of their baroque nature, but nothing could be further from the truth. The vanitas paintings of the past are steeped with religious symbolism and undertones, placing Christian values above the transience of earthly life, with the objects chosen as a vehicle to portray these messages. Such objects represented categories such as wealth and power, earthly pleasures, secular knowledge, and passage of time, and they were often depicted in a state of disarray, signifying an overthrow of the achievements they portray, as well as the transience of their existence.

In modern times vanitas no longer carries the same weight of religion as it did in past. Historically, the wealthy used vanitas to escape from the guilt of being wealthy through artistic penance. Having vanitas paintings ironically allowed the wealthy to be able to keep their wealth, while at the same time releasing them from the religious guilt of having acquired transient material possessions instead of dedication to the church. Nowadays, the average person does not carry guilt for their prosperity, nor is religion as essential as it was in 17th century Netherlands. Vanitas has essentially transformed itself into a chameleon art form. Vanitas has changed how it is viewed and the symbols that are used depending upon the creator and viewer, to create a more personalized experience. I have seen vanitas take on the meaning of memory and familial legacy, all the way to the horrors of modern globalization and war. However, the one thing that hasn't changed in the centuries since it came about is man's capacity for self-reflection and contemplation of the meaning of life.

symbols of arts and sciences - books, maps, musical instruments

wealth and power - purses, jewelry, gold objects

earthly pleasures - goblets, pipes, playing cards

symbols of death or transience - skulls, clocks, burning candles, soap bubbles, flowers

symbols of resurrection and eternal life - ears of corn, sprigs of ivy or laurel

Vanitas – A Brief History

“Vanity of vanities, everything is vanity” (Ecclesiastes 1:2,12:8).

Vanitas is a term that few have heard, but many will recognize when shown the type of still life painting that it represents. Vanitas is Latin for vanity and dates back to the 16th and 17th centuries in Flanders and the Netherlands. The vanitas paintings used specific symbolic objects to remind people that Christian values are to be valued above the transience of life and earthly possessions. Vanitas flourished during the Dutch golden age in the early 17th century due to the religious climate of the time. 

What effectively lead to the development of the vanitas style of art was the Roman Catholic Counter Reformation Art, which was a stringent, doctrinal style of Christian art and Catholic Biblical art throughout the 16th century. This type of art was designed to show the differences between Catholicism and Protestantism, and it was meant to curb the effect that the Protestant revolt had on Catholic congregations throughout Europe. Moreover, the Roman Catholic Counter Reformation Art came into existence because of the corruption of the Catholic Church, as well as religious paintings becoming less religious, due to the decadence of the time.

As a reaction to decreasing religious interest, the Council of Trent utilized education and visual art to increase the religious devotion of the public, thus sparking the Roman Catholic Counter-Reformation Art and the Protestant Reformation Art, and eventually leading to the creation of the vanitas style of paintings. Vanitas was popular among the devout Protestants, since the focus of vanitas was to show Christian values above the materialism and the achievements of the time. Vanitas allowed the Protestants to repent for the wealth that they acquired by visually reminding them that God is greater.