And some of his etchings. First of all, visitors need to show portraits of an old man and an old woman. The images of old people are very penetrating, they convey not so much external beauty, which has long since passed away. Their external attractiveness is a thing of the past. The master with amazing talent shows how rich the inner life of his heroes, their inner world is.

Rembrandt "Portrait of an old woman" Rembrandt "Portrait of an Old Man"

One of the brilliant masterpieces of the museum is the painting.

The plot tells the story of a Jewish girl named Esther. She becomes the wife of the eastern despot, King Artaxerxes, who does not know about her origin. When the first minister of Artakerks, Haman, prepares a secret order to exterminate all the Jews, Esther, who learned about his cruel plan, takes an oath from her husband that he will fight all her enemies and the enemies of her people. Upon learning of Haman's secret plot, Artaxerxes orders his execution. The king follows the oath given to him and takes the side of his wife. The canvas depicts a certain feast, at which all the details of Haman's secret plan are revealed. In the center sits Artaxerxes, next to him is Esther. On the opposite side is Haman. With the help of light and composition, Rembrandt shows who will be the winner in this confrontation. The figure of Esther is brightly lit, it does not just glow, but all shines, shines. The figure of Haman is in the shadows and it immediately becomes clear that Esther will be the winner in the dispute.

Details about Rembrandt's paintings are described in a series of publications:

Room 11. Dutch art of the 17th century

Methodical advice: after where it is exhibited, show immediately hall number 11. The Rembrandt hall is a checkpoint, in order to continue the tour, you will have to go through this hall twice. In the case when Rembrandt's works are shown at the output, the contrast will be brighter and the impression will be stronger. It turns out that you show huge paintings by Flemish artists, and then go to room number 11 with small and dark paintings by Dutch masters in modest frames. Therefore, it is advisable to go straight to the hall, and show on the return.

All Dutch art of that time is connected with the Protestant consciousness of the 17th century. Artists depicted townspeople, burghers, even artisans, merchants, who have modest but comfortable dwellings and who decorate their homes with the same small, modest paintings. In Holland, at this time, canvases were by no means created by order of the church or the aristocracy, as in Flanders. This is a completely different social order. And the pictures are completely different. On weekdays, such paintings were covered with curtains so that flies would not sit in them, dust would not set. When a holiday came, guests came or just wanted to look at the picture, the curtains were opened, and then, of course, closed again. Therefore, the artists painted very small, cozy pictures. It is no coincidence that the painters who created such images are called.

There are different versions of the origin of this term in art, and all of them are partly true. On the one hand, these artists are less known than Frans Hals and Rembrandt - the great Dutch, that is, everyone else is small compared to them. On the other hand, these chamber works are notable for their small format, modest plot, everyday images, always taken from life. That is, small - not great, small - due to the small size of the canvases, small - because the plot of the paintings was not heroic, but everyday, chamber.

Still lifes. Dutch art of the 17th century

Still life paintings were very popular. The paintings of the Dutch masters are incredibly vivid. Dutch painting of the 17th century is already the beginning of realism in painting. Still lifes are surprisingly real, but they are much more modest, more natural than those of the Flemings. “Little Dutch” do not write an abundance of seafood or fruits of the earth, but the so-called “breakfasts”, depicting a few modest, as if even forgotten things. It is no coincidence that in their paintings there is an amazing feeling of the quiet life of objects. In Dutch, it is “steel rain”, still life is the French name. In northern European languages, this name is translated not as dead nature, but as a quiet life.

Peter Claesz "Breakfast" Gerrit Willems Heda "Ham and Silverware"

landscapes. Dutch art of the 17th century

In the bottom row we see landscapes, and again they are not huge and monumental, but small, which depict the real backyards of some Dutch village. The collection features the work of Jan Josefs van Goyen “View of the Waal River near Nijmegen”.

Jan Josephs van Goyen “View of the Waal River near Nijmegen”

The Nijmegen Fortress played a very important role in the national liberation struggle. But we see not a hero city, but a small fortress on the river bank. The main characters here are cows that came to the river bank to drink water and fishermen pulling nets.

Our attention is drawn to a barrel floating down the river. This is a quiet, peaceful, cozy world, the familiar world, the world that the masters saw every day, the world of everyday routine. But the genius of the Dutch painters of the 17th century lies in the fact that they managed to see beauty behind this routine. To do this, you don’t have to go to the ends of the world and look for spectacular mountains and sunsets, but you just need to look out the window and say: “Oh, how beautiful!” and convey it on your canvas.

The Dutch also became one of the founders of the domestic genre. Actually, the final division of painting into genres took place in Holland in the 17th century, where the everyday genre was very popular.
We have quite a lot of everyday genre paintings, you should pay attention to three things.

household genre. Dutch art of the 17th century

One of the paintings is “Peasant Wedding” by Jan Steen. The plot of this picture is very interesting.

Jan Haviks Steen “Peasant Wedding”

It can be seen that all the guests of the bride and groom are laughing in a very strange way, and the boy with a malicious smile points to the bride's stomach. A middle-aged, respectable groom was slipped a young, but pregnant bride. He still does not know about it, and here he is, laughing lasciviously, being called into the matrimonial bedroom. This is the right side of the composition. On the left side, the girl is talking to the priest, the mother is feeding the child, the girl is playing with the dog. The dog is a symbol of fidelity. On the one hand, it shows how not to do it, and on the other hand, how it should be done, the picture clearly shows an example of bad and good behavior.

household genre. Moral teachings.

Dutch painting of the 17th century was incredibly didactic. And what sometimes seems to us an almost depraved scene is actually an example of how not to behave or, on the contrary, an indication of how to do it. For example, Terborch's painting depicts a glass of wine. We see a girl whom a young man treats with wine and she is already ready to drink this wine. In fact, wine is a symbol of promiscuity, and in this case it is a symbol of free love. If a man offers a girl a glass of wine, and she accepts this glass of wine, then, obviously, she will accept all his other proposals.
Gerard Gerards Terborch “Scene in a tavern”

A more subdued scene is the parrot scene. In fact, the parrot is a symbol of idleness and stupidity. Here the girl, instead of doing sewing, is thinking about another, not so chaste occupation. We see that she closed her needlework box, and let the parrot out of the cage, that is, she let her idleness and stupidity out of the cage.
Gabriel Metsu "Girl at work"

Sick old man. Dutch art of the 17th century

And finally, the scene in the corner, the picture - "Sick old man." In Soviet times, tears were shed here, mourning the sad old age of this old man, to whom a young daughter thrusts dry bones instead of food.

In fact, here is a completely different story. It takes place in a brothel where this old man came. The matchmaker, written in the center, offers him a young girl. The girl answers him: "Please, everything is for your money." The old man has a purse with money in his hand. However, dry bones seem to say that the old voluptuary is already himself, like a dried bone, and his idea is not worth a damn. This is emphasized by the empty, eaten away shells scattered on the floor.

And in the background of the canvas is depicted the exact opposite picture. Young men and women are seen there, who have whole eggs in a mesh plate. Here we are talking about the fact that the trade is in full swing and everything will be successful.

It is also important that all the candles and lamps went out, and a picture hangs on the wall. If another picture is depicted on a Dutch canvas, then it serves as a kind of key to interpreting the plot. The painting on the wall depicts the Old Testament story "Susanna and the Elders".
Jan Haviks Steen "Sick old man"

The story tells how the old people harassed Susanna, and when the girl refused them, they tried to slander her, saying that she seduced them. In the religious Jewish state, Susanna was supposed to be stoned for this. But the wise judge guessed to interrogate the old men separately and it turned out that their testimony did not match in detail. Then he realized that the old people were deceiving the court and they were punished. In this case, this is a direct indication that this old man will also be punished for his unworthy behavior and, apparently, soon, because the extinguished lamps in Dutch painting mean death.

(lat. vanitas, lit. - “vanity, vanity”) - a genre of painting of the Baroque era, an allegorical still life, the compositional center of which is traditionally a human skull. Such paintings, an early stage in the development of the still life, were intended to remind of the transience of life, the futility of pleasure and the inevitability of death. It was most widespread in Flanders and the Netherlands in the 16th and 17th centuries, with individual examples of the genre found in France and Spain. The term goes back to the biblical verse (Eccl. 1:2) Vanitas vanitatum et omnia vanitas (“Vanity of vanities, said the Ecclesiastes, vanity of vanities, all is vanity!”).

Simon-Renard de Saint-André, c. 1650

The symbols found on the canvases were intended to remind of the frailty of human life and the transience of pleasures and achievements:
The skull is a reminder of the inevitability of death. Just as a portrait is only a reflection of a once living person, so the skull is only a form of a once living head. The viewer should perceive it as a "reflection", it most clearly symbolizes the frailty of human life.
Rotten fruits are a symbol of aging. Ripe fruits symbolize fertility, abundance, in a figurative sense, wealth and prosperity. A number of fruits have their own meaning: the fall is denoted by pears, tomatoes, citrus fruits, grapes, peaches and cherries, and of course, an apple. Figs, plums, cherries, apples or peaches have erotic overtones.
Flowers (fading); rose - the flower of Venus, a symbol of love and sex, which is vain, like everything inherent in man. Poppy is a sedative from which opium is made, a symbol of the deadly sin of laziness. The tulip is a collectible in the Netherlands of the 17th century, a symbol of thoughtlessness, irresponsibility and unreasonable treatment of the state granted by God.
Grain sprouts, branches of ivy or laurel (rare) - a symbol of rebirth and the cycle of life.
Sea shells, sometimes live snails - the shell of a mollusk is the remains of a once living animal, it means death and frailty. The creeping snail is the personification of the deadly sin of laziness. Large mollusks denote the duality of nature, a symbol of lust, another of the deadly sins.
Soap bubbles - brevity of life and suddenness of death; a reference to the expression homo bulla - "a man is a soap bubble."
Extinguishing smoking candle (cinder end) or oil lamp; a cap for extinguishing candles - a burning candle is a symbol of the human soul, its extinction symbolizes departure.
Cups, playing cards or dice, chess (rarely) - a sign of an erroneous life goal, a search for pleasure and a sinful life. Equality of opportunity in gambling also meant reprehensible anonymity.
A smoking pipe is a symbol of fleeting and elusive earthly pleasures.
Carnival mask - is a sign of the absence of a person inside it. Also intended for a festive masquerade, irresponsible pleasure.
Mirrors, glass (mirror) balls - a mirror is a symbol of vanity, in addition, it is also a sign of reflection, shadow, and not a real phenomenon.
Broken dishes, usually glass goblets. An empty glass, opposed to a full one, symbolizes death. Glass symbolizes fragility, snow-white porcelain - purity. The mortar and pestle are symbols of male and female sexuality. The bottle is a symbol of the sin of drunkenness.
Knife - reminds of the vulnerability of a person and his mortality. In addition, it is a phallic symbol and a hidden image of male sexuality.
Hourglass and mechanical clock - the transience of time.
Musical instruments, notes - the brevity and ephemeral nature of life, a symbol of the arts.
Books and maps (mappa mundi), writing pen - a symbol of science.
Globe, both the earth and the starry sky.
A palette with brushes, a laurel wreath (usually on the head of a skull) are symbols of painting and poetry.
Portraits of beautiful women, anatomical drawings. Letters symbolize human relationships.
Red wax seals.
Medical instruments are a reminder of diseases and frailty of the human body.
Coin purses, jewelry boxes - jewelry and cosmetics are designed to create beauty, female attractiveness, at the same time they are associated with vanity, narcissism and the mortal sin of arrogance. They also signal the absence of their owners on the canvas.
Weapons and armor are a symbol of power and might, a designation of what cannot be taken with you to the grave.
Crowns and papal tiaras, scepters and powers, wreaths of leaves are signs of transient earthly domination, which is opposed to the heavenly world order. Like masks, they symbolize the absence of those who wore them.
Keys - symbolize the power of a housewife who manages stocks.
Ruins - symbolize the transient life of those who once inhabited them.
A sheet of paper with a moralizing (pessimistic) saying, for example:

Vanitas vanitatum; Ars longa vita brevis; Hodie mihi cras tibi (today for me, tomorrow for you); Finis gloria mundi; memento mori; Homo bulla; In ictu oculi (in the twinkling of an eye); Aeterne pungit cito volat et occidit (glory about heroic deeds will vanish just like a dream); Omnia morte cadunt mors ultima linia rerum (everything is destroyed by death, death is the last boundary of all things); Nil omne (everything is nothing)

Very rarely, still lifes of this genre include human figures, sometimes a skeleton - the personification of death. Objects are often depicted in disorder, symbolizing the overthrow of the achievements they represent.

Vanitas still lifes in their initial form were frontal images of skulls (usually in niches with a candle) or other symbols of death and frailty, which were written on the reverses of portraits during the Renaissance. These vanitas, as well as the flowers that were also painted on the backs, are the earliest examples of the still life genre in European art of the New Age (for example, the first Dutch still life is precisely “Vanitas” by Jacob de Hein). These skulls on the backs of the portraits symbolized the mortality of human nature (mors absconditus) and were contrasted with the living state of the model on the back of the picture. The earliest vanitas are usually the most modest and gloomy, often almost monochrome. The vanitas still lifes emerged as an independent genre around 1550.
Artists of the 17th century stopped depicting the skull strictly frontally in the composition and usually "lay" it to the side. As the Baroque era progressed, these still life paintings became more opulent and exuberant.
They gained popularity by the 1620s. The development of the genre until the decline of its popularity around the 1650s. centered in Leiden, the Dutch city that Bergstrom, in his study of the Dutch still life, declared "the center of the creation of vanitas in the 17th century." Leiden was an important center of Calvinism, a movement that denounced the moral depravity of mankind and strove for a solid moral code. Bergstrom believed that for Calvinist artists, these still lifes were a warning against vanity and frailty and were an illustration of the Calvinist morality of that time. Also, the composition of the genre was probably influenced by the humanist outlook and heritage of the memento mori genre.

Bartholomeus Brain the Elder, perv. floor. 16th century Vanitas

Human mortality emblem. At the same time, it is considered as a receptacle for the soul, the life of a being, and has been endowed with a special ritual value since the Paleolithic. Among the Celts, he was revered as the focus of sacred power, which protected a person from adverse forces and bestowed health and wealth. The skull is an attribute of Hindu hermits, sannyasins, as a sign of their renunciation of the world on the path to salvation. It also acts as an attribute of the formidable deities of the Tibetan pantheon. Taoist immortals (xian) are often depicted with overgrown skulls, a sign that they have accumulated a huge amount of yang energy in their brains.

H. Stanwick. Vanitas

Muslims associate the well-known saying that the fate of a person is written on his forehead, with the seams of the skull, the twists of which are like letters.

H. Stanwick. Vanitas

The skull, like the scythe, and the old woman are included in the main matrix of symbols of death. The skull is an attribute of many images of Christian apostles and saints, such as St. Paul, St. Magdalene, St. Francis of Assisi. Hermits are often depicted with a skull, indicating their contemplation of death. On some icons, the crucifix is ​​depicted with a skull and bones at the foot and serves as a reminder of death on the cross. According to one legend, this cross stood on the bones of Adam, and thanks to the crucifixion of the Savior on it, all people will gain eternal life.

Adrian van Utrecht. Still life with a bouquet and a skull.

In Western culture, death has been shifted from its proper place in the life cycle, although it is the most ancient, like birth, the main biological function. The mechanisms of dying are developed by nature with the same attention as the mechanisms of birth, with concern for the welfare of the organism, with the same abundance of genetic information to guide all phases of death, which we used to find in critical situations of our lives. Therefore, death places its signs, carefully warns of its approach. No wonder the ancient "remember death" had to be expressed in symbols and signs that are affixed on the roads of life. Soothsayers of various kinds had a human skull for various types of witchcraft, for example, they put it at their head and called on the skull to tell the truth.

A. de Pereda. Vanitas

In alchemy, the “dead head” is the remains in the crucible, products of alchemical decays that are useless for further actions and transformations. In a figurative sense - something devoid of any content, a dead form, a kind of slag. The Sabines believed that the human soul descends precisely to the skull, so ritual bowls were made from skulls. Rabbi Maimonides made the incense of myrtle around the skull, Rabbi Eleazar described how to make a teraphim - they slaughtered the firstborn, cut off the head, salted and put a golden plate with an inscription under the tongue, after which they waited for messages from him. It was not for nothing that the teraphim kidnapped Rachel so that the head would not inform Laban that Jacob had fled. We see the remnants of the Lemurian cult of the teraphim in Christianity - Adam's head, as well as in the occult Reich, where there was an order and a whole division called "Dead Head". And even in modern life, one of the signs of the international Moscow film festival was the red head of a teraphim.

C. Stoskopf. Vanitas

Some peoples of Siberia had a custom: they put the head of a killed animal, for example, a bear, and asked its patrimonial patron spirit for forgiveness for having to kill this animal. Among the Mexicans, the depths of the earth are given to the skull. The black mark - a sign of a dead head among pirates and filibusters - was sent as a warning to those who were destined for death.
It is from the skull of a dead horse that a snake crawls out, stinging Prophetic Oleg.

F. Gijsbrechts. Vanitas.

F. de Champagne. Still life with a skull. (Vanitas)

The white skull is the sign of the highest sephirah, which releases dew and brings the dead back to life. Scandinavian Odin always took with him the head of Mimir, which brought him news from other worlds. The story of the fiery skull of Jacob de Molay symbolizes the vital life force, and this story began in 1314, when the chief master of the order of the Knights of the Temple was burned at the stake. It is said that the surviving Templars paid the executioner and he, having extinguished the fire, took out the skull, which was then cleaned. Then the skull, together with the idol of Baphomet, was sent to Scotland, from where, already at the time of the conquest of America by the Masons, it migrated to the town of Charleston, where it was received by modern Palladists. According to Albert Pike, during the contact of the highest ranks of the order with this skull, which rested on a black granite column, a light flashed inside the skull and flooded the entire room.

M. Harnett. Death and immortality. 1876

P. Klaas. Vanitas. 1628

P. Klaas. Vanitas.

According to another witness, the mythical doctor Bataille, flames burst out of the holes of the eye sockets: sometimes red, sometimes white, sometimes green, and these three rays were like fiery snakes. In addition to the fiery properties, the skull possessed the power of a curse. Spoke blasphemous words during the fire ritual. Indeed, during the execution in 1314, Jacob de Molay cursed the three main perpetrators of the trial of the order - Pope Clement V, who died 40 days after the death of the master, and a few months later died of an unknown terrible disease and Philip the Handsome, then shared the same fate three of his sons who died one after the other for 14 years. The people called them "damned kings." The further development of the legend ascribes to Jacob de Molay the prophecy that the dynasty of French kings will end on the chopping block. And the curse came true: in 1786. Louis XVI was condemned to death at a Masonic meeting, and three years later, during the Revolution, he was beheaded.

Jurian van Streck, c. 1670. Vanitas

J. Linard. Vanitas. 1644

In the Tibetan tradition, along the line of Karma Pa (black crown), there was a complex multi-stage meditation on human bones, which allowed a person to overcome the fear of death, while not forgetting about the frailty of life. Also in Tibet, there was a kapal bowl, a ritual vessel made from a human skull. This ritual object was presented as a symbol of compassion, since, according to the figurative representation, the blood of all deeply feeling beings was placed in it.

Sebastian Bonnecroix, Still Life with a Skull

Vanitas (lat. vanitas, literally - “vanity, vanity”) is a genre of painting of the Baroque era, an allegorical still life, the compositional center of which is traditionally a human skull. Such paintings, an early stage in the development of the still life, were intended to remind of the transience of life, the futility of pleasure and the inevitability of death. It was most widespread in Flanders and the Netherlands in the 16th and 17th centuries, with individual examples of the genre found in France and Spain.

Pieter Claesz. (1596-1661). Still life Vanitas (vanity of vanities) with musical instruments (1628) (Amsterdam, State Museum)

The term comes from the Bible verse (Eccl. 1:2) Vanitas vanitatum et omnia vanitas (“Vanity of vanities, said the Ecclesiastes, vanity of vanities, all is vanity!”).

Unknown artist. Still life Vanitas (vanity of vanities) with books (1633) (Amsterdam, State Museum)

The symbols found on the canvases were intended to remind of the frailty of human life and the transience of pleasures and achievements:

• The skull is a reminder of the inevitability of death. Just as a portrait is only a reflection of a once living person, so the skull is only a form of a once living head. The viewer should perceive it as a "reflection", it most clearly symbolizes the frailty of human life.


• Rotten fruit is a symbol of aging. Ripe fruits symbolize fertility, abundance, in a figurative sense, wealth and prosperity. A number of fruits have their own meaning: the fall is denoted by pears, tomatoes, citrus fruits, grapes, peaches and cherries, and of course, an apple. Figs, plums, cherries, apples or peaches have erotic overtones.


• Flowers (fading); the rose is the flower of Venus, a symbol of love and sex, which is conceited, like everything inherent in man. Poppy is a sedative from which opium is made, a symbol of the deadly sin of laziness. The tulip is an object of collecting in the Netherlands of the 17th century, a symbol of thoughtlessness, irresponsibility and unreasonable treatment of the state granted by God.


• Grain sprouts, ivy or laurel branches (rarely) are a symbol of rebirth and the cycle of life.


• Sea shells, sometimes live snails - the shell of a mollusk is the remains of a once living animal, it means death and frailty. The creeping snail is the personification of the deadly sin of laziness. Large mollusks denote the duality of nature, a symbol of lust, another of the deadly sins.


• Soap bubbles - brevity of life and suddenness of death; a reference to the expression homo bulla - "man is a soap bubble."


• Extinguishing smoking candle (cinder end) or oil lamp; a cap for extinguishing candles - a burning candle is a symbol of the human soul, its attenuation symbolizes departure.


• Cups, playing cards or dice, chess (rarely) - a sign of an erroneous life goal, a search for pleasure and a sinful life. Equality of opportunity in gambling also meant reprehensible anonymity.


• A smoking pipe is a symbol of fleeting and elusive earthly pleasures.


• The carnival mask is a sign of the absence of a person inside it. Also intended for a festive masquerade, irresponsible pleasure.


• Mirrors, glass (mirror) balls - a mirror is a symbol of vanity, in addition, it is also a sign of reflection, shadow, and not a real phenomenon.


• Broken dishes, usually glass goblets. An empty glass, opposed to a full one, symbolizes death. Glass symbolizes fragility, white porcelain - purity. The mortar and pestle are symbols of male and female sexuality. The bottle is a symbol of the sin of drunkenness.


• Knife - reminds of the vulnerability of a person and his mortality. In addition, it is a phallic symbol and a hidden image of male sexuality.


• Hourglass and mechanical clock - the transience of time.


• Musical instruments, notes - the brevity and ephemeral nature of life, a symbol of the arts.


• Books and maps (mappa mundi), the pen is a symbol of the sciences.


• Globe, both the earth and the starry sky.


• A palette with brushes, a laurel wreath (usually on the head of a skull) are symbols of painting and poetry.


• Portraits of beautiful women, anatomical drawings. Letters symbolize human relationships.


• Red wax seals.


• Medical instruments are a reminder of the diseases and frailty of the human body.


• Coin purses, jewelry boxes - jewelry and cosmetics are designed to create beauty, feminine attractiveness, at the same time they are associated with vanity, narcissism and the deadly sin of arrogance. They also signal the absence of their owners on the canvas.


• Weapons and armor are a symbol of power and might, a designation of what cannot be taken with you to the grave.


• Crowns and papal tiaras, scepters and orbs, wreaths of leaves are signs of transient earthly domination, which is opposed to the heavenly world order. Like masks, they symbolize the absence of those who wore them.


• Keys - symbolize the power of a housewife who manages stocks.


• Ruins - symbolize the transient life of those who once inhabited them.


• A sheet of paper with a moralizing (pessimistic) saying, for example:

Jacob de Hein I. Still life with a skull (1603) (82.6 x 54) (New York, Metropolitan)

Very rarely, still lifes of this genre include human figures, sometimes a skeleton - the personification of death. Objects are often depicted in disorder, symbolizing the overthrow of the achievements they represent.

Aelbert Jansz. van der Schoor. Still life Vanitas (vanity of vanities) (1640-1672) (Amsterdam, State Museum)

Vanitas still lifes in their initial form were frontal images of skulls (usually in niches with a candle) or other symbols of death and frailty, which were written on the reverses of portraits during the Renaissance. These vanitas, as well as the flowers that were also painted on the backs, are the earliest examples of the still life genre in European modern art (for example, the first Dutch still life is precisely “Vanitas” by Jacob de Gheyn).

Edwaert Collier (c.1640 - after 1707). Still life Vanitas (vanity of vanities) (1662) (Amsterdam, State Museum)

These skulls on the backs of the portraits symbolized the mortality of human nature (mors absconditus) and were contrasted with the living state of the model on the back of the picture. The earliest vanitas are usually the most modest and gloomy, often almost monochrome. The vanitas still lifes emerged as an independent genre around 1550.

B. Schaak. Still life Vanitas (vanity of vanities) (1675-1700) (Amsterdam, State Museum)

Artists of the 17th century stopped depicting the skull strictly frontally in the composition and usually "lay" it to the side. As the Baroque era progressed, these still life paintings became more opulent and exuberant.

Franciscus Gysbrechts (before 1630 - after 1676)). Still life Vanitas (vanity of vanities) (115 x 134) (Antwerp, Royal Museum of Fine Arts)

They gained popularity by the 1620s. The development of the genre until the decline of its popularity around the 1650s. centered in Leiden, the Dutch city that Bergstrom, in his study of the Dutch still life, declared "the center of the creation of vanitas in the 17th century." Leiden was an important center of Calvinism, a movement that denounced the moral depravity of mankind and strove for a solid moral code. Bergstrom believed that for Calvinist artists, these still lifes were a warning against vanity and frailty and were an illustration of the Calvinist morality of that time. Also, the composition of the genre was probably influenced by humanistic views and the legacy of the memento mori genre.

Harmen Steenwyck. Vanitas Still Life (Vanity of Vanities) (1640)

Jacques de Claeuw. Still life Vanitas (vanity of vanities) (1650) (Amsterdam, State Museum)

Jan Jansz. Treck (c.1606 - 1652). Vanitas Still Life (Vanity of Vanities) (1648) (London, National Gallery)

Jan Pauwel Gillemans the Elder (1618-1675). Still life Vanitas (vanity of vanities) (1654) (96 x 140) (St. Petersburg, Hermitage)

Jan van Kessel (1626-1679). Still life Vanitas (vanity of vanities) (1665-1670) (20.3 x 15.2) (Washington, National Gallery)

Joris van Son (1622-1667). Allegory of Human Life (1658-1660) (124.7 x 92.7) (Baltimore, Walters Museum)

N. L. Peschier. Vanitas Still Life (Vanity of Vanities) (1659-166) (Philadelphia Museum of Art)

N.L. Peschier. Still life Vanitas (vanity of vanities) (1660) (Amsterdam, State Museum)

Peeter Sion the Elder. Vanitas still life (vanity of vanities) (private collection)

Pieter Claesz. (1596-1661). Still life Vanitas (vanity of vanities) (1628) (24.1 x 35.9) (New York, Metropolitan)

Pieter Claesz. (1596-1661). Still life Vanitas (vanity of vanities) (1630) (39.5 x 56) (The Hague, Mauritshuis Royal Gallery)

Pieter Claesz. (1596-1661). Still life Vanitas (vanity of vanities) (c.1628) (36 x 59) (Nuremberg, National Museum of Germany)

Franciscus Gysbrechts (before 1630 - after 1676)). Still life Vanitas (vanity of vanities) (85.7 x 59)

Pieter Claesz. Still life Vanitas (vanity of vanities) (1636) (47 x 61) (Munster, Westphalian State Museum of the History of Culture and Art)

Pieter Symonsz. Potter. Still life Vanitas (1646) (Amsterdam, State Museum)

Stevers. Still life Vanitas (vanity of vanities) (1630-1660) (Amsterdam, State Museum)

Bartholomeus Brain the Elder, 1st floor. 16th century

Philippe de Champagne, 2nd floor 17th century

Peter Boel, 1663

Simon Renard de Saint-André, c. 1650

Jurian van Streck, c. 1670

Around the same time, when strict monks greeted each other remembering death, and a little earlier: in the 16-17 centuries, the allegorical type of vanitas paintings became widespread in the Netherlands and Flanders. This word is translated from Latin as "vanity; emptiness, emptyness, insignificance; futility, uselessness; deceit, boasting, vanity, frivolity." In the Vanitas paintings, the human skull served as the compositional center, they were intended to remind of the transience of life, the futility of pleasures and the inevitability of death.

Rogier van der Weyden (1399/1400-1464). Triptych of the Braque family, circa 1452. Closed triptych. Louvre, Paris / The outer panels of Rogier van der Weyden "s Braque Triptych shows the skull of the patron displayed in the inner panels. The bones rest on a brick, a symbol of his former industry and achievement

The name Vanitas comes from the phrase "Vanitas vanitatum et omnia vanitas" / "Vanity of vanities and all vanity" from the Book of Ecclesiastes or Preacher, attributed to King Solomon, in the Bible it is placed among the Books of Solomon. For the first time the words "Vanitas vanitatum et omnia vanitas" are found in the Latin translation of the Vulgate Bible.

3.

Andrea Previtali called Cordeliaghi (1470-1528) (Italian) (Painter). Portrait of a Man - Memento Mori. panel. 23.8 x18 cm. Museo Poldi Pezzoli. Inv. 1598vers.

"The words of Ecclesiastes, son of David, king in Jerusalem.

Vanity of vanities, said the Ecclesiastes, vanity of vanities, all is vanity!
What is the use of a man from all his labors with which he toils under the sun?
Generation passes, and generation comes, but the earth remains forever.

4.

Jan Gossaert (1478-1532). Trompe-l "oeil Skull. Date 1517, wood. 43x27 cm. Louvre Museum. via

The sun rises, and the sun sets, and hurries to its place where it rises.
The wind goes to the south, and goes to the north, whirling, whirling in its course, and the wind returns to its circles.

5.

Bartholomeus Brain the Elder (circa 1493-1555). Vanitas, first half of the 16th century. / Barthel Bruyn the Elder (circa 1493-1555). Vanitas, oil on panel. Dimensions 61 × 51 cm. Current location Kroller-Müller Museum. Inscriptions: Placecard next to the skull reads in Latin: Omnia morte cadunt, mors ultima linia rerum. In English translation: Everything passes with death, death is the ultimate limit of all things via

All rivers flow into the sea, but the sea does not overflow: to the place where the rivers flow, they return to flow again.
All things are in labor: a person cannot retell everything; The eye is not satisfied with sight, the ear is not filled with hearing.

6.

Solesmes, Bibliothèque de l'abbaye Saint-Pierre, 018, f. 145. Heures d'Ottobeuren, 16th century

What was, is what will be; and what has been done is what will be done, and there is nothing new under the sun.

7.


Livre d "heures, en latin et en français, à l" usage de Cambray. Devise. Vous seul. Date: 1401-1500. Bibliothèque de l "Arsenal, Ms-1185 reserve. Provenance: bnf.fr.

There is something about which they say: “look, this is new”; but [this] was already in the ages that were before us.
There is no memory of the former; and of what will be, there will be no memory for those who will come after.

8.

Douai, Bibliothèque municipale, 0118, detail of f. 281 (marginal illustration for Office of the Dead). Early 16th cent. via

I, the Ecclesiastes, was king over Israel in Jerusalem;
and I gave my heart to search and try with wisdom all that is done under heaven: this hard work God gave to the sons of men to exercise in it.
I saw all the works that are done under the sun, and behold, all is vanity and vexation of the spirit!
The crooked cannot become straight, and what is not, cannot be counted.

9.

San Marino, Huntington Library, HM 01132, detail of f. 106. Book of Hours, use of Rome. Italy, late 15th century

I spoke to my heart like this: Behold, I have been exalted and gained wisdom more than all who were before me over Jerusalem, and my heart has seen much wisdom and knowledge.
And I gave my heart to know wisdom and to know folly and stupidity: I learned that this is vexation of the spirit;

10.


St. Gallen, Stiftsbibliothek, Cod. Sang. 357, detail of f. 343. Missal. St. Gall, 1555

because in much wisdom there is much sorrow; and whoever increases knowledge, increases sorrow."

11.

Vincent van Gogh (1853-1890). Skull, 1887 / Van Gogh, Skull, 1887. Oil on canvas, 41.5 x 31.5 cm. Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam.

Allegorical still life

Vanitas (lat. vanitas, lit. - "vanity, vanity, frailty") - genre variety of still life, representing the attributes " frailty of earthly existence": hourglass, skull, globe, extinguished candle, antique tome...

Antonio de Pereda (1608-1678) Vanitas - Florence, Uffizi.

A genre of painting of the Baroque era, an allegorical still life, the compositional center of which is traditionally a human skull. Such paintings, an early stage in the development of the still life, were intended to remind of the transience of life, the futility of pleasure and the inevitability of death. It was most widespread in Flanders and the Netherlands in the 16th and 17th centuries, with individual examples of the genre found in France and Spain.

The term comes from a biblical verse ( eccl. 1:2 ) Vanitas vanitatum and omnia vanitas (“Vanity of vanities, said the Ecclesiastes, vanity of vanities, all is vanity!”).

Juan Valdes Leal (1622 - 1690)

The sad appearance of these objects is neutralized by the gifts of the earth surrounding them: flowers, fruits, fruit baskets and putti children playing with these things. Aesthetics of a genre full of semantic contrasts and " reduced"tragedy on the verge of ironic grotesque, typical of the art of the Baroque style.

Still life type " vanitas "Began to appear in the Flemish painting of the 17th century, and then became widespread in the art of Holland, Italy and Spain. The most famous masters P. van der Villige, M. Vythos, J. van Streck loved to write puzzle still lifes with mysterious objects and inscriptions. These paintings have become a mystery of the Baroque era.

S. Stoskopff, Vanitas (c. 1650)

Spanish artists tended to more optimistic "bodegones", while the Italians, and above all the Venetians, preferred still lifes as an accessory, a background for depicting beautiful women at the toilet in front of a mirror. One of the most interesting still lifes of the Swiss J. Heinz ( OK. 1600) is located in the Brera Pinacoteca in Milan, Italy. In the genre "vanitas" Flemish painters worked in France: Philippe de Champaigne, J. Bouillon. It is characteristic that "vanitas "remained in the history of art as a predominantly Flemish and Dutch phenomenon.

Antonio de Pereda (1608-1678) Gentleman and death

The symbols found on the canvases were intended to remind of the frailty of human life and the transience of pleasures and achievements:

• Scull- a reminder of the inevitability of death. Just as a portrait is only a reflection of a once living person, so the skull is only a form of a once living head. The viewer should perceive it as " reflection”, it most clearly symbolizes the frailty of human life.

• rotten fruit- a symbol of aging.
• Ripe fruits symbolize fertility, abundance, in a figurative sense, wealth and prosperity.
• A number of fruits have their own meaning: the fall is indicated pears, tomatoes, citruses, grapes, peaches and cherries, and of course, an apple. Erotic overtones have figs, plums, cherries, apples or peaches.
• Flowers ( fading) ; rose - the flower of Venus, a symbol of love and sex, which is vain, like everything inherent in man. Poppy is a sedative from which opium is made, a symbol of the deadly sin of laziness. The tulip is a collectible in the Netherlands of the 17th century, a symbol of thoughtlessness, irresponsibility and unreasonable treatment of the state granted by God.

Adrian van Utrecht

• Grain sprouts, ivy or laurel branches ( rarely) - a symbol of rebirth and the cycle of life.
• sea ​​shells, Sometimes live snails- the shell of a mollusk is the remains of a once living animal, it means death and frailty. A creeping snail is the personification of the deadly sin of laziness. Large mollusks denote the duality of nature, a symbol of lust, another of the deadly sins.
• Bottle- a symbol of the sin of drunkenness.
• Red wax seals, medical instruments- a reminder of the diseases and frailty of the human body.
• Bubble- brevity of life and suddenness of death; referencing an expression homo bulla - « man eating a soap bubble».

Simon - Renard de Saint - André

▪ Cups, playing cards or dice, chess (rare)- a sign of an erroneous life goal, the search for pleasure and a sinful life. Equality of opportunity in gambling also meant reprehensible anonymity.

• Smoking pipe- a symbol of fleeting and elusive earthly pleasures.

Extinguishing smoking candle(cinder) or oil lamp; a cap for extinguishing candles - a burning candle is a symbol of the human soul, its extinction symbolizes departure.

• Carnival mask- is a sign of the absence of a person inside it. Also intended for a festive masquerade, irresponsible pleasure.

Antonio de Pereda (1608-1678), The Knight's Dream. 1655

• Mirrors, glass (mirror) balls- a mirror is a symbol of vanity, in addition, it is also a sign of reflection, shadow, and not a real phenomenon.

Jacob de Gein

• Broken dishes, usually glass goblets.
• Empty glass, opposed to the full, symbolizes death. Glass symbolizes fragility, white porcelain- cleanliness. The mortar and pestle are symbols of male and female sexuality.

• Knife- recalls the vulnerability of a person and his mortality. In addition, it is a phallic symbol and a hidden image of male sexuality.
• Hourglass and mechanical clock- the speed of time.

F. de Champagne

• Musical instruments, notes- the brevity and ephemeral nature of life, a symbol of the arts.

M. Harnett

• Books and maps ( mappa mundi), writing pen- a symbol of science.
• globe both the earth and the starry sky.
• Palette with brushes, laurel wreath (usually on the head of the skull)- symbols of painting and poetry.
• Portraits of beautiful women, anatomical drawings. Letters symbolize human relationships.

Pieter Claesz

• Coin purses, jewelry boxes- jewelry and cosmetics are designed to create beauty, feminine attractiveness, at the same time they are associated with vanity, narcissism and the mortal sin of arrogance. They also signal the absence of their owners on the canvas.
• Weapons and armor- a symbol of power and might, a designation of what cannot be taken with you to the grave.

Korie Everuto (Evert Collier), Vanitas).1669

• Crowns and papal tiaras, scepters and orbs, wreaths of leaves- signs of transient earthly domination, which is opposed to the heavenly world order. Like masks, they symbolize the absence of those who wore them.
• 
  Keys- symbolize the power of a housewife who manages stocks.
• Ruin- symbolize the transient life of those who once inhabited them.

Bartholomeus Brain Senior 1st floor. XVI century

• A sheet of paper with a moralizing (pessimistic) saying, For example: Vanitas vanitatum; Ars longa vita brevis; Hodie mihi cras tibi (today for me, tomorrow for you); Finis gloria mundi; memento mori; Homo bulla; In ictu oculi (in the twinkling of an eye); Aeterne pungit cito volat et occidit (glory about heroic deeds will vanish just like a dream); Omnia morte cadunt mors ultima linia rerum (everything is destroyed by death, death is the last boundary of all things); Nil omne (everything is nothing)

Artists of the 17th century ceased to depict the skull strictly frontally in the composition and usually " put' him aside. As the Baroque era progressed, these still life paintings became more opulent and exuberant.

Very rarely, still lifes of this genre include human figures, sometimes a skeleton - the personification of death. Objects are often depicted in disorder, symbolizing the overthrow of the achievements they represent.

Evert Collier (1630/50 -1708). Self portrait with Vanitas

A. Steenwinkel. Vanitas Self-portrait of the artist.

David Bailly (1584 - 1657) Self-portrait with Vanitas, 1651