VANITAS

Vanitas: translation

In English,vanity.Vanitasis a theme in art that reminds viewers of the transience of life and admonishes them on the importance of living righteously to ensure salvation. The term is taken from a verse in Ecclesiastes (12: 8) that reads, "Vanity of vanities, saith the preacher, all is vanity." The Dutch, inspired by Caravaggio's depictions of fruits in different stages of ripeness, were the first to use thevanitastheme ingenrepaintings. Wilting flowers, decomposing fruits, half-eaten foods, skulls, hourglasses, extinguished pipes, and bubbles, all form part of the visual vocabulary of vanitas paintings.

See alsoMemento mori.