Memento Mori: Vanitas - Edwaert Collier

Seeing as it is October and I am feeling like doing this, I think I shall share a series of memento mori art here because 

a) I CAN

 and 

b) the world is on fire and this provides a spooky distraction.

***

Memento mori is Latin for "remember that you will die" and it is a trope appearing in all manner of art  funerary and otherwise from antiquity right up until the present day.  Symbolically, it reminds us that life is fleeting and death is inevitable. 

For our first example, here is: 

"Vanitas - Still Life with Books, Manuscripts and a Skull" (1663, Oil on panel) 

Artist: Edwaert Collier, Dutch (c. 1643-1710) 


In this painting we see several common motifs indicating the impermanence of life including a skull & bones,  a recently snuffed out candle, an hourglass, wilting greenery, a tipped over vase and a watch.  

Musical instruments also appear frequently in memento mori works, symbolizing transience and fleeting earthly pleasures.  Books and manuscripts also appear frequently as symbols of scholarship and earthly matters.   The manuscript in the center foreground contains a passage from Psalms, chapter 26. 

This painting can be found in the National Museum of Western Art, Taito City, Tokyo, Japan. 


More on the artist here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evert_Collier

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