Vanitas Paintings: Why Artists Painted Skulls and Hourglasses

Some of the most admired still lifes in European art include a human skull. They show fruit, flowers, jewels, books, and then, among them, a reminder of death. These are vanitas paintings. This article explains what they are and what their objects meant. It describes the works in words only; museums publish images of many of them online.

What is a vanitas painting?

A still life that contrasts the pleasures and achievements of life with its brevity. The Fort Wayne Museum of Art describes it as a painting with collections of objects symbolic of both the vanity and transience of life, through earthly achievements and pleasures, and the inevitability of death. A skull is common, but the museum notes it is not required.

Where does the word come from?

From the Bible. The Christian Century’s commentary explains that the vanitas tradition draws on the Latin Vulgate version of Ecclesiastes 1:2, “Vanitas vanitatum omnia vanitas,” or “Vanity of vanities, all is vanity.” It adds that the Latin vanitas means “emptiness” or “futility,” and was used to translate the Hebrew word hebel, which mainly means “vapor,” something fleeting and perishable.

When and where did it flourish?

In the Netherlands, mostly in the 17th century. Artprice says the genre took shape in the early 17th century in the Dutch Republic, amid a growing art market, rising prosperity among the middle classes, and Protestant piety that called for less overtly religious images. The Fort Wayne Museum of Art says vanitas painting peaked in the mid-17th century in the Netherlands, when Calvinism was popular. Another source, Very Important Lot, describes the genre as most common in the Netherlands and Flanders from the mid-16th to the mid-17th century, so the starting date depends on how the genre is defined. Artprice says a small panel by Jacques de Gheyn II from about 1603 to 1605, in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, is often considered one of the first stand-alone vanitas still lifes. The Fort Wayne museum adds that earlier skull images were painted on the back of Renaissance portraits as a reminder for the sitter.

What do the objects mean?

Each stands for something. Sources describe them this way:

• Skull and bones: the certainty of death.
• Hourglass or watch: the passing of time.
• Snuffed candle: a life that has ended.
• Soap bubble: how fragile life is.
• Wilting flowers and spoiled fruit: decay.
• Books, instruments, jewels, coins, and weapons: learning, pleasure, wealth, and power.

The Bowdoin museum describes a painting by Harmen van Steenwyck, who learned to paint from his uncle David Bailly. In it, musical instruments and a sword and shield allude to pleasure and power, while a skull and an hourglass remind viewers of death and passing time. See also Why Are Skulls a Reminder to Live? and Why Does the Hourglass Remind Us That Life Is Short?.

What was the message?

The Bowdoin museum says vanitas symbols conveyed a Christian message discouraging vanity and urging viewers to give up earthly delights to secure salvation. The Christian Century commentary adds that the impermanence of human life underscores dependence on an eternal God.

Is there a paradox in these paintings?

Yes, and museum writers point it out. The Fort Wayne Museum of Art says that pairing jewels, fruit, cakes, books, and instruments with reminders of fleeting life gave a moral justification for painting attractive objects. A beautiful painting could not be called a waste if it reminded viewers that everything passes. Over time, the museum says, vanitas compositions added more symbols of wealth, and some, like a 1637 dessert still life by Willem Claesz Heda, leave out the skull entirely and keep only subtle clues.

What happened to the genre?

It faded by the late 17th century, but its symbols lived on. The Fort Wayne museum notes that small vanitas elements kept showing up in later paintings. Very Important Lot lists later artists, including Paul Cézanne, whose 1866 still life with a skull, candlestick, and book echoes the tradition.

Where can I learn more?

See Memento Mori, Ars Moriendi: The Medieval Art of Dying, and The Grim Reaper and the Dance of Death.