Still life with a skull: the name of the direction, symbolism, photo paintings

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

"What is the name of a still life with a skull?" - this question is asked by both ordinary art lovers and novice artists. When did the first such still lifes appear, what do they mean and which artists most often resorted to using the skull in their compositions? Look for answers to these and other questions further in the article.

Allegorical still life vanitas

But still, what is the name of the still life with a skull? The answer is contained in the name of the sub title - vanitas, which literally translates from Latin as "vanity" or "vanity". Such paintings are not just one of the types of still life, but also one of the earliest, along with picturesque images of game and other prey from hunting. But why exactly did they get such a name? The fact is that the word "vanitas" is repeated several times in a saying taken from the Latin translation of the Bible:

Vanity of vanities, said the Ecclesiastes, vanity of vanities, all is vanity!

"Vanitas vanitatum" - this is exactly what it means"Vanity". The first vanitas were not independent paintings at all - monochrome still lifes with a skull and a candlestick were traditionally drawn on the back of Renaissance portraits. This symbolized the frailty of being, hinting at the mortality of the depicted person, the other side of life. Despite the fact that the significant flowering of vanitas as an independent subgenre occurred during the Baroque era, the first such still lifes were found in the 16th century, continued to appear in the 19th and 20th centuries, and are also sometimes used today. The allegorical meaning, which is filled with still lifes with a skull, will never lose its relevance.

Bartolomew Brain Senior

On the reproduction above you can see a still life with a skull and a candlestick from 1524 called "Vanity of Vanities", painted by the German artist Bartholomew (Bartolomeus) Brain the Elder. Key items characteristic of the vanitas are depicted in this minimalist Renaissance painting. As in all subsequent paintings, the center of the image is the skull, but in this case, the separately lying lower jaw is curious. An extinguished candle symbolizes a departed soul. Very characteristic of the early vanitas is a piece of paper with a Latin moralizing - in this case it is the phrase "Everything is destroyed by death, death is the last boundary of all things."

It should be noted that this painting is one of the first of its kind, so Bartholomeus Brain can be safely called one of the fathers of vanitas painting. Currentlythe painting is stored in the Dutch Museum Kröller-Müller.

Jacob de Gein II

The first Dutch still life with a skull, a reproduction of which can be seen above, was also the first still life for Holland as a whole. Its author was the artist Jacob de Hein II, he painted this "Still Life Vanitas" in 1603. This picture is extraordinary in its image power and color depth, this is how almost all still lifes of eminent Dutch masters, including Rubens and Rembrandt, will look like. Here, the skull is still traditionally placed in the center of the composition and is in a certain recess.

The left vase depicts a tulip, a classic Dutch symbol of waste and irresponsibility, while the right vase is occupied by only one withered stem. This is a hint that before death, rich and poor, young and old are equal. Coins of various denominations scattered in front of the skull also allude to squandering. Above the skull in the opening there is a huge glass ball, in which the room is reflected - like mirrors, in vanitas such balls mean a false image of reality, into which the human body turns after his death. It is curious that in the arch de Geyn entered decorative figures of a laughing Democritus and a weeping Heraclitus, characteristic of both the Renaissance and the Baroque. The painting is stored in the Metropolitan Museum of New York.

The main photo of the article also shows a painting by this artist called "Still life vanitas", created in1621. This is already a typical Baroque still life, filled with many symbolic objects, including a huge number of books symbolizing learning, a laurel wreath, armor and a mantle hinting at strength and power, as well as musical instruments and busts - all these are things that you cannot take with you. into the grave, and therefore in the center again the skull. The artist wanted to say that only the soul has value, and everything else is fussy and temporary, because even a person’s own skeleton does not remain after death.

Peter Klas

Peter Klass, another Dutch painter, was also a big fan of skull still lifes. He has more than a hundred different vanitas paintings on his account, sometimes he redraws the same composition several times, changing some insignificant object or the angle of incidence of light in it. Above you can see reproductions of the following paintings:

• "Still Life with Skull and Feather", 1628.
• "Vanitas", 1630th.
• "Still life vanitas", 1630.
• "Vanitas still life with book, skull, oil lamp, glass and pen", 1630th.

Peter Claesz's skull still lifes have a number of permanent objects. Almost always, the composition is complemented by an oil lamp or a candle, a feather, a pocket watch, nuts and an overturned glass - usually with a studded stem. As already known, candles and lamps symbolize extinct life, a pen, like books, - learning. The presence of a clock hints at the transience of time or a stopped life, crushednuts speak of a broken shell of the body, an overturned glass - about the abuse of drunkenness.

Most of this artist's vanitas still lifes are in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.

Adrien van Utrecht

Above you can see a reproduction of the painting "Vanity of Vanities" by Adrian van Utrecht, which the Belgian artist painted around 1640. Another name for the canvas is "Still Life with a Bouquet and a Skull". All the symbols presented in this vanitas are in one way or another connected with vanity and wastefulness, mostly female. A bouquet of tulips and roses, as well as a huge shell speak of frivolity and lust, a huge amount of jewelry, coins and two types of champagne glasses - about wastefulness, a smoking pipe symbolizes voluptuousness and love for fleeting pleasures. Currently, "Vanity of Vanities" is in a private collection.

Harmen van Steenwijk

No less than Pieter Claesz, the Dutch painter Harven van Steenwijk loved to depict still lifes with skulls. Above are reproductions of the following paintings:

• "Still life vanitas", circa 1640.
• "Allegory of the bustle of human life", circa 1640.
• "Still life", circa 1640.
• "Still life of a sculpted bust, skull, oil lamp and other objects on a stone ledge", circa 1650.

But, unlike the work of Pieter Claesz, van Steenwijk does notwrote monotonous plots - almost always they were filled with various allegories, written in different light and colors, and even the position of the skull is always different. Among the presented paintings, the similarity can be seen in the first two - they are united by the image of the handle of the sword, the shell and the expensive red cloth. So, in both cases, the senselessness of strength and power before death was meant, as well as a hint of depravity (shell). But in the first picture you can also see pipes and a bottle - the abuse of potions and fleeting pleasures. On the second - a variety of copper utensils, which speaks of hoarding, stinginess, which the artist also does not approve of.

The third picture is completely different - it is made in light colors, there are ripe fruits, a flute, books, as well as elements of correspondence. All this, most likely, hints at the fact that even poetic young natures are prone to the fall (grapes and peaches are its symbols). On the last canvas, pipes and weapons are again depicted, but it is interesting with an unusual abundance of busts, sculptures and portraits. Most likely, all this speaks of human memory, which lives thanks to various memorials about a deceased person.

Simon Renard de Saint-André

French artist Simon Renard de Saint-Andre was also a very prolific master of this genre. Above you can see copies of the following paintings:

• "Vanitas", 1650.
• "Still life", circa 1650.
• "Still life vanitas", year unknown.
• "Still life", circa 1660.
• "Still life vanitas", circa 1660.

Like Harmen van Steenwijk, Saint-André is very diverse in terms of the composition of his still lifes. The paintings differ in light, colors and symbols. Soap bubbles can be distinguished from previously unmentioned allegorical elements. This is a reference to the Latin expression "man is a soap bubble", hinting at the transience and fragility of life. Also, almost always in vanitas Saint-Andre there are not only musical instruments, but also notes, which speaks of the ephemerality of being and how valuable art is in it, which can also leave a memory of a talented person after his death. Withered flowers have become in the works of this painter a kind of replacement for an extinct candle.

Francis Gijsbrechts

The still lifes with skulls of the Dutchman Francis Gijsbrechts are also distinguished by an abundance of various objects. Above you can see reproductions of his paintings called "Vanitas" 1660, unknown and 1676. It is noticeable from them that Gijsbrechts' skull is not the center of the plot, but only part of it, usually based on a book or some other object. With such a huge number of things, you should not look for a separate subtext in each of them - all together they personify a life filled with excesses, but still leading to death.

The most interesting is the third painting depicting a still life with a skull on an easel and with a palette - thus the artist wanted to say that heand he himself never forgets about death, and not only teaches others.

Philippe de Champagne

Despite the fact that "Still Life with a Skull" by the French painter Philippe de Champagne was painted in the mid-1670s, it refers the viewer to the earlier works of vanitas, typical of the Renaissance, in the best traditions of Bartholomeus Brain the Elder. The image is symmetrical to the smallest detail, and all the symbols are already familiar - the skull in the center, strictly in the middle, calls to forget about the vanity of vanities, the fresh tulip speaks of vanity, and the hourglass speaks of the inexorability of time. You can see the painting in the French Tessa Museum.

Jurian van Streck

In turn, the Dutchman Jurian van Streck did not depart from the classic still life with a skull from the Baroque era when creating his painting on the theme of vanitas in 1680. The skull does not occupy a central position here - on the contrary, all the attention of the viewer is attracted by huge lush feathers that rise in the center and clearly divide the canvas in half. Also here are a military helmet, daggers and a book with Sophocles' play "Electra". Most likely, it is the play that is the key to understanding the artist's idea - feathers probably symbolize hyperbolic vanity, delusion in one's own rightness, and the helmet and daggers personify murder and revenge. An interesting element is the bright red female portrait on a scarf, which the viewer first of all takes for a shapeless blood stain.

Paul Cezanne

Vanitas went out of fashion by the end of the 17th century, and were extremely rare in the 18th. However, they returned in the second half of the 19th century, reborn in the painting of the Impressionists, Post-Impressionists and Expressionists. Paul Cezanne, the famous French post-impressionist painter, became one of the first revivalists of still lifes with a skull. Above are reproductions of his work:

• "Vanitas", 1866.
• "Three Skulls", 1895.
• "Still life with a skull", 1898.
• "Pyramid of Skulls", 1900.

On the first canvas you can see a clear imitation of baroque artists - colors, allegorical objects and even manner are similar. Three other works were written later than the first, at about the same time, and this is noticeable. They feel the artist's own style, but the absence of any connection to the vanitas of the Renaissance and Baroque. "Still Life with a Skull" by Cezanne is more like a typical student's production of a still life, in which he deliberately decided to move away from the canons of subtext adopted in vanitas.

Vincent van Gogh

But the works of the famous Dutch impressionist Vincent van Gogh cannot be called vanitas in the full sense, since there is nothing on them except skulls. But still, these are still lifes, because the skull is an inanimate object, and cannot have a portrait. Above are reproductions of the following paintings by the master:

• "Skull with a burning cigarette",1886
• "Skull in profile", 1887.
• "Skull", 1887.

The first work was written by the artist during his studies at the school of art - van Gogh was angry at the senseless ban on the image of people before the basics of anatomy were completed. That is why he decided to animate the drawn skeleton by inserting a burning cigarette into his teeth. Later, van Gogh nevertheless completed two educational still lifes with a skull - one in profile and the other in full face.

Pablo Picasso

The famous Spaniard Pablo Picasso also loved to write vanitas. Although his paintings are made in a symbolic expressionist manner, they are still classic still lifes with a skull, in the best plot traditions. Above you can see reproductions of Picasso's paintings:

• "Skull, sea urchins and lamp", 1943.
• "Still life with skull and jug", 1943.
• "Black pitcher and skull", 1946.
• "Vanitas. Skull, book and kerosene lamp", 1946.

You can see the main objects of plot allegories - a kerosene lamp (instead of an oil or candle), a book, dishes. Despite the artist's original style, even in bright colors he manages to convey the philosophical idea of such still lifes.

Study work

From the 17th century to this day, a still life with a skull made in pencil has been included in the curriculum of painting and drawing - both in universities and in art schools. Immediately after the student masters the pencil drawingskulls from nature, in compliance with chiaroscuro, he is invited to enter it into a full-fledged still life - as a rule, with a candle, a book and some utensils. And only after that, beginner artists begin to perform a picturesque vanitas in color.

Strange as it may seem, but still lifes with a skull are very relevant for artistic photos. And, as for ordinary painters, photo artists during their training must build a similar still life and take training pictures. The main task of such works is color reproduction, as close as possible to the paintings of the Baroque era, as well as the abundance of various symbolic objects surrounding the skull.