Vanitas Paintings Explained: What the Skull, Candle and Flowers Mean
A vanitas painting is a still life that reminds the viewer that life is short and worldly things do not last. The name comes from the Latin vanitas, "vanity" or emptiness, in the line from Ecclesiastes, "vanity of vanities, all is vanity". A skull is the clearest symbol; candles, flowers, books and music add the rest.
The facts at a glance
Artist: Harmen Steenwijck (about 1612 to after 1656), a painter working in Leiden
Work: An Allegory of the Vanities of Human Life, about 1640
Technique: oil on panel, about 39 x 51 cm
Subject: a skull, a shell, a lamp, books, a flute and a sword on a bare table
Today: a London collection
What is a vanitas painting for?
It is a sermon in paint. Seventeenth-century Dutch buyers were richer than any people in Europe at the time, and a vanitas table was a quiet warning that money, learning and pleasure all end. The picture was meant to be a handsome object that also made you think. That is why the objects are so beautifully painted: the artist wanted you to feel what you would be asked to give up.
Leiden, with its university and its Protestant moral culture, became the centre of the type in the 1620s and after. Steenwijck is one of the best-known Leiden painters in the group, working in the same sober, tidy manner as his older contemporaries.
What does the skull mean in a vanitas painting?
Death, plainly. The skull is the one object in a vanitas painting that the viewer cannot read any other way. In Steenwijck's table it sits at the centre, lit by a shaft of light coming from the upper left and set on top of a pile of books, so that death rests on learning.
Skulls in painting go back much further. For more of this kind of coded detail across the old masters, read The Hidden Language of the Masters.
What do the candle, lamp and hourglass mean?
Time running out. An oil lamp or a candle burns down, and a snuffed wick or a thin trail of smoke tells you the light has gone. Steenwijck's lamp stands beside the skull on the right of the table. An hourglass or a pocket watch, when they appear, say the same thing in a more direct way.
What do the flowers and fruit mean?
Beauty that does not last. A rose drops its petals, a tulip droops, a peeled lemon turns. Dutch flower painters often put a fading bloom among fresh ones for the same reason. Read Why Dutch Flower Paintings Never Wilt for the other side of this tradition: flowers that never fade, painted from many different seasons.
What do the books, shell, flute and sword mean?
Each object stands for something people chase and lose:
Books: knowledge and scholarship, which cannot save a scholar from death.
A rare shell: the Dutch collectors' passion for exotic curiosities, a sign of wealth and pride.
A flute or other instrument: music, a pleasure that fades as soon as it is played.
A sword: power and military glory, here left on a table.
Pipes, jars and fine cloth: luxury, comfort and display.
Steenwijck sets them all in one calm, golden light. Nothing in the picture is dramatic, and that is the point. Death is not shown as an event but as the quiet end of every object on the table.
How is vanitas different from memento mori?
Memento mori means "remember that you will die", and it is a general reminder, in sculpture, jewellery or a skull in a portrait. Vanitas is a specific picture type that adds the whole list of earthly things that die with you: money, knowledge, beauty, music, power. Every vanitas is a memento mori, but not every memento mori is a vanitas.
Why do vanitas paintings suit a modern room?
They are still lifes, so the scale is calm, and the palette is usually dark brown, grey and gold. A vanitas works well in a study, a dining room or a library, particularly in the dark-academia style, because it brings a thoughtful tone without telling a story. To see where the type sits in the wider period, start with Dutch Golden Age: Vermeer, Rembrandt, and the Painters of Light.
Zocine Art Design is an independent studio that prints classic paintings as wall art.
Frequently asked questions
What does vanitas mean in art?
Vanitas is Latin for emptiness or vanity. In art it names a type of still life that reminds viewers that life is short and wealth, beauty and knowledge do not last.
What does a skull symbolise in a painting?
A skull stands for death and the shortness of life. In a vanitas still life it is the central reminder that everything else on the table is temporary.
Who painted vanitas still lifes?
Dutch and Flemish painters made most of them in the seventeenth century, especially in Leiden. Harmen Steenwijck, David Bailly and Pieter Claesz are among the names.
What is the difference between vanitas and memento mori?
Memento mori means "remember you must die" and covers many kinds of art. Vanitas is a specific still-life type that adds symbols of wealth, learning, beauty and pleasure that will pass.
Browse Dutch Golden Age and other classic art prints in the archive at Zocine on Etsy.
New in the Journal: Why Dutch Flower Paintings Never Wilt: Seven Masters of the Golden Age Bouquet
New in the Journal: Dutch Golden Age: Vermeer, Rembrandt, and the Painters of Light
New in the Journal: The Hidden Language of the Masters
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