Ask the Chatbot Games & Quizzes History & Society Science & Tech Biographies Animals & Nature Geography & Travel Arts & Culture ProCon Money Videos
Vanitas
Introduction References & Edit History Related Topics
Images
Still Life, oil on wood by Willem Claesz Heda, 1634; in the Museum Boymans-van Beuningen, Rotterdam. 43 × 57 cm. Vermeulen, Jan: Vanitas still life
Feedback
Corrections? Updates? Omissions? Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login).
Thank you for your feedback

Our editors will review what you’ve submitted and determine whether to revise the article.

External Websites
Still Life, oil on wood by Willem Claesz Heda, 1634; in the Museum Boymans-van Beuningen, Rotterdam. 43 × 57 cm.
Still Life, oil on wood by Willem Claesz Heda, 1634; in the Museum Boymans-van Beuningen, Rotterdam. 43 × 57 cm.

Vanitas

art
Written and fact-checked by
Britannica Editors
Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree....
Britannica Editors
Last updated
•History

Vanitas, (from Latin vanitas, “vanity”), in art, a genre of still-life painting that flourished in the Netherlands in the early 17th century. A vanitas painting contains collections of objects symbolic of the inevitability of death and the transience and vanity of earthly achievements and pleasures; it exhorts the viewer to consider mortality and to repent. The vanitas evolved from simple pictures of skulls and other symbols of death and transience frequently painted on the reverse...

Discover the world with Britannica

Subscribe to Continue Reading

Free Trial | No Ads | Exclusive Content
Explore Subscriptions
DNA
Right
Mobile