Vanitas Still Life
Artist: Jacques de Gheyn II (Dutch, 1565–1629)
Original Dimensions: 32 1/2" x 21 1/4"
Location: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
About Artwork: (1603) "This panel is generally considered to be the earliest known independent still-life painting of a vanitas subject, or symbolic depiction of human vanity. The skull, large bubble, cut flowers, and smoking urn all evoke the brevity of life, while images floating in the bubble—such as a wheel of torture and a leper’s rattle—refer to human folly. The figures flanking the arch above are Democritus and Heraclitus, the laughing and weeping philosophers of ancient Greece." - (The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York)

Panel content
Panel content