“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.