Genre
Vanitas & Mortality
The vanitas still life is a sermon in objects. A skull beside a guttering candle, a watch, a bubble, cut flowers already past their best: the genre flourished in the seventeenth-century Dutch Republic, where a picture of worldly plenty doubled as a reminder that all of it ends.
Key artists
Works
The Penitent Magdalen
The Interior of the Oude Kerk, Amsterdam
The Lamentation
Still Life with a Skull and a Writing Quill
The Crucifixion
Vanitas Still Life
An Allegory
The Descent from the Cross
The Triumph of Death
The Crucifixion with the Virgin and St John
Vanitas Still Life
The Crucifixion with Saints and a Donor
The Meditation on the Passion
Self-Portrait
The Pérussis Altarpiece
Vanitas Still Life
The Vision of Saint Anthony of Padua
Saint Jerome
Untitled
Saint Francis in Ecstasy
The Temptation of Saint Mary Magdalen
Temptation of St. Anthony
The Descent from the Cross
Untitled
A Young Artist (Ditlev Blunck) Examining a Sketch in a Mirror
Flower still-life with a skull and crucifix
Vanitas still life
The Crucifixion
Allegory of the Arts and Sciences
Landscape with St Jerome
Crown of thorns on the Holy Cross, with the Five Holy Wounds surrounded by rays
Guru Dragpo
Family Portrait
Magdalena penitente en la gruta de Sainte-Baume
The Lamentation
Praying hermit
Saint Jerome in His Study
Bubble-blowing Girl with a Vanitas Still Life
Saint Jerome in His Study
Penitent Magdalen
The dead Christ venerated by Pius V
Christ, the Example for Martyrs
Saint Jerome in his study
Vanitas still life
The Temptations of Saint Anthony Abbot
Emblem of Death
Portrait of the painter Hans Burgkmair (1473) and his wife Anna
The Penitent Magdalen
Saint Jerome
El expolio de Cristo
Saint Jerome in his Study
The Penitent Magdalen
Christ in Glory with Saints
The penitent Saint Jerome
San Pedro Celestino papa
The Vision of Dionisio Rickel The Carthusian
Hermit
Penitent Magdalene
Vanitas still life with bouquet of flowers, painters palette, globe, violin and acorn cup
Christ on the Cross
Saint Francis of Assisi and Brother Leo Meditating on Death
Saint Jerome
Saint Francis of Assisi in the Portiuncula
Saint Francis of Assisi in Ecstasy
Vanitas
Penitent Magdalene
Saint Francis of Assisi kneeling in meditation
San Jerónimo penitente
Saint Peter of Alcántara
Saint Paul the Hermit
Saint William of Aquitaine
Allegory on Human Life
Still life with skull, books, candle and a flask
Interior of the Oude Kerk, Amsterdam
The ghost of Samuel appears to the witch of Endor; Saul falls prostrate to the ground (1 Samuel 28:3-20)
Saint Francis Kneeling in Meditation
Portrait of a Franciscan friar
The Visitation
Saint Bruno Prays in La Torre Calabria
A Vanitas Still Life
Cristo crucificado
The Crucifixion
Penitent Magdalene
Vanitas
Don Pedro I de Castilla consulta su horóscopo a un moro sabio de Granada llamado Ben-Agatim
Crucified Christ with Mary and John
Memento Mori with a Skull under a Vase with Flowers
St. Francis receiving the Stigmata
St. Francis receiving the Stigmata
A Young Woman Contemplating a Skull
Saint Rosalia
Nicolás Omazur
Lady and Girl
Mary Magdalene and Two Angels
Vanitas
A Philosopher by Lamplight
Still Life with a Violin
Trois crânes (The Three Skulls)
Portrait of Margareta Mettenye with Saint Margaret
Crucifixion
Operación quirúrgica
Vision of Saint Francis of Assisi
The Deposition
The Crucifixion
Vanitas, Still Life with Books and Manuscripts and a Skull
Heilige Hiëronymus
Portret van Jacques Lanbiot
Portrait of Hendrik Franssens, Dean of the Surgeons' Guild in Bruges
Vanitas, circa 1630
Vanitas Still-Life
The Apotheosis of War
Portrait of Dr. Meer
Mary Magdalene in the desert (Meditation)
Ecstasy of Saint Francis Receiving the Stigmata
Vanitas Still Life
春好斎北洲画 初代市川鰕十郎 「紅紫大坂潤」|Kabuki Actor Ichikawa Ebijūrō I as Tōken (China Dog) Jūbei, in the play Benimurasaki ai de someage (Red and Purple, Rich Dyes of Osaka)
Vanitas Still Life with a Sunflower
Vanitas Still Life
Hamlet’s Vision
St. Francis and Brother Leo Meditating on Death
St Francis and Brother Leo Meditating on Death
Christ triumphant over Sin, Death, and the Grave
Vanitas still life with a mask
Untitled
Frequently asked questions
What is Vanitas & Mortality?
Vanitas & Mortality is a motif in painting. The vanitas still life is a sermon in objects.
How many Vanitas & Mortality works does Artifact World Gallery have?
Artifact World Gallery holds 124 public-domain Vanitas & Mortality works, all free to view and download.
Who are the key Vanitas & Mortality artists?
Key Vanitas & Mortality artists in the collection include Paolo Veronese, Georges de La Tour and El Greco.