Vanitas

Henry Bloxenheim Professor Hillegas ARTD 1010 December, 4, 2017. The Hollow Skull: Vanitas and its Message The Netherlands in the Seventeenth Century was the home of many famous artists, most notably Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn, but also many lesser known artists such as Pieter Claesz.. Pieter Claesz was born in 1597 in Berchem (near Antwerp) Claesz moved to Haarlem in 1620 and lived there till his death in 1660. He is most associated with the Flemish and Dutch still life tradition and still

Vanity Exposed in Vanity Fair   The title Thackeray chose for his novel Vanity Fair is taken from The Pilgrim´s Progress by John Bunyan. In Bunyan´s book, one of the places Christian passes through on his pilgrimage to the Celestial City is Vanity Fair, where it is possible to buy all sorts of vanities. A very sad thing happens there: the allegorical person Faithful is killed by the people. In the novel Vanity Fair Thackeray writes about the title he has chosen: "But my kind reader will please

death in 1660. He is most associated with the Flemish and Dutch still life tradition and still lifes make up a vast majority of his work. His 1628 painting Still Life with a Skull and a Writing Quill is a prime example of the Still Life style called Vanitas, so named as the artist would attempt to display the vanity of materialism. As the name suggests the skull instantly draws the eye, the hollow face of the skull is in the center of the oil on wood painting. The skull extends to the right where one

Convergence of the Twain The Titanic, born from human greed and wed to fate’s punishment, is a modern icon of decadence. However, Hardy re-imagines this icon in his poem The Convergence of the Twain. Instead of an explicit critique of the ship’s ostentatious vanity, Hardy sees The Titanic’s sinking as the judgment for its “vaingloriousness” and a product of the ship’s conception, development, and wedding to fate. The poem’s organization emphasizes a contrast between different states of the ship’s

The extract from Plutarch’s Life of Antony concentrates on Cleopatra’s seduction of Antony. It presents Cleopatra and her retinue as manipulative, bending Antony to their will, “[Cleopatra’s] flatterers also worked hard upon Antony at this time. They told him that he must be an insensitive brute with a heart of stone, for here was a mistress who was utterly devoted to him alone”. Plutarch: Makers of Rome also references Cleopatra’s wiles, ‘Plato speaks of four kinds of flattery. but [sic] Cleopatra

Still-life has been largely viewed as a genre of painting that contemplates life and time passing through an existential lens. Although this may be true, it seems that one may be myopically viewing still-life in a way that robs it of its nuances. This is even truer of still-life that contains a self-portrait of the artist – whether a traditional self-portrait or reflected on a mirror – as seen in many 17th century Dutch still-life. I argue that still-life with the artist’s portrait embedded into

My father fell over; revealing my unlikely savior, Vanitas. His yellow eyes glared down at him. There was great fury in them. “Touch her again and I'll rip you to shreds!” he threatened the unconscious man. When he turned his attention towards me, his intimidating glare melted. He kept a straight, emotionless face, but his eyes held emotions that I couldn't identify. Vanitas knelt down to my level and held his hand out to me. I eyed his gloved hand uncertainly. “Are you going

Vanitas - About the Art of Painting, Levin Rodriquez, incorporates symbolism to represent the allegoric themes of the inevitability of death, the futility of pleasures and transience of life. This photograph appears to be a Vanitas (from the Latin “vanity”). Common vanitas symbols include skulls, which are a reminder of the certainty of death; knowing we humans cannot run and hide from this. Paints, sketches and books are used to show the futility of earthly pleasures and preferably using clocks

For my vanitas collage I selected a variety of images that spoke to me personally. Instead of doing an old fashion collage with scissors and glue. I decided to used a collage maker online, which really helped me in putting the images together to portray a meaningful meaning behind each image. At first, I struggled a little with selecting the right images to symbolize death, life, time and lust. From what I learned in module 1-2 vanitas are pieces of art that remind people of mortality and that material

Formal Analysis The “Vanitas Still Life” painted by Pieter Claesz was created in the 1630s. Before and during this time period, many changes were occurring in European culture. People began to question this selling of indulgences and the supreme importance of the Bible over church officials. This led to the rise of Protestantism and the idea of predestination. Many elements of these new ideas and change of culture can be seen through symbolism in Claesz’s, “Vanitas Still Life.” Something new created