Picture of vanity of vanities description. Admiring vanity. Everyday genre. Dutch art of the 17th century

The book depicted in the painting is a translation of Sophocles' tragedy Electra, into Dutch, by the famous poet Joost van den Vondel (1587–1679) in 1639; the tragedy took place on stage in Amsterdam.

Vanitas

Job Streka, like other works “ vanitas”contains many hidden references, as well as an allegorical concept quite similar to other paintings, associated with the frailty of wealth, hopelessness and perishability of life, which were popular both in literature and in painting in the 17th century. For example, fame, positions and success are included in a rich helmet. The drawing under the skull (lower left edge) refers to painting. The transience of life and death is illustrated by a skull (present in most paintings of this style). Another popular attribute of “vanity” are feathers, which occupy most of compositions.

Still life with a skull. Unknown master.

Many Dutch painters invested in the idea of ​​the immortality of art, inherited from antiquity; a reference to antiquity and to the whole range of ideas associated with it can be seen in this case in the fact that Streck depicts precisely the translation of Sophocles' Electra (Right side). Overall, however, a different frame of mind prevails in Streck's work. The tattered pages of the book and the curled edges of the drawing hint at the beginning of the damage.

Interpretation

The main key to interpreting the picture remains the skull with an ear of grain entwined around it - a symbol of the eternal life of the soul in Christ (according to the words of Christ: “I am the bread of life”). As a symbol of hope, the motif of an ear of corn entwining a skull (or growing from a skull) appeared in the still lifes of many Dutch painters, as well as in books of emblems (for example, the emblem “Death is the beginning of life” from the book of Jacob Camerarius, published in 1611). Streck painted several more still lifes, where other attributes of “vanity of vanities” appear. A painting similar in theme and set of objects (antiquity is symbolized by the bust of Seneca) is in the York City Art Gallery. Another still life, also with an antique bust, a helmet crowned with feathers, and an edition of Hooft's tragedy - in the Muidenslot State Museum, Muiden. A similar plumed helmet appears in the 1670 posthumous portrait of Admiral Stelingwerf by Lodewijk van der Helst in the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam; This portrait by E. de Jong is used as a reference point for dating the painting in the York Gallery. The compilers of the exhibition catalog in Frankfurt also date the Moscow still life to around 1670, with which one can agree with them.

Around the same time when strict monks greeted each other remembering death, and a little earlier: in the 16th and 17th centuries, the allegorical type of vanitas paintings became widespread in the Netherlands and Flanders. This word is translated from Latin as “vanity; emptiness, emptiness, insignificance; futility, uselessness; deceit, boasting, vanity, frivolity.” In Vanitas paintings, the human skull served as the compositional center; they were intended to remind us of the transience of life, the futility of pleasures and the inevitability of death.

Rogier van der Weyden (1399/1400-1464). Triptych of the Braque family, circa 1452. Triptych closed. Louvre, Paris / The outer panels of Rogier van der Weyden's Braque Triptych shows the skull of the patron displayed in the inner panels. The bones rest on a brick, a symbol of his former industry and achievement

The name Vanitas comes from the phrase "Vanitas vanitatum et omnia vanitas" / "Vanity of vanities and all sorts of vanity" from the Book of Ecclesiastes or Preacher, attributed to King Solomon, in the Bible it is placed among the Books of Solomon. The words “Vanitas vanitatum et omnia vanitas” are first found in the Vulgate Latin translation of the Bible.

3.

Andrea Previtali called Cordeliaghi (1470-1528) (Italian) (Painter). Portrait of a Man - Memento Mori. Panel. 23.8 x18 cm. Museo Poldi Pezzoli. Inv. 1598verso.

"The words of Ecclesiastes, son of David, king in Jerusalem.

Vanity of vanities, said Ecclesiastes, vanity of vanities - all is vanity!
What profit does a man get from all the labors he toils under the sun?
A generation passes, and a generation comes, but the earth remains forever.

4.

Jan Gossaert (1478-1532). Trompe-l"oeil Skull. Date 1517, wood. 43x27 cm. Louvre Museum. via

The sun rises, and the sun sets, and hastens to its place where it rises.
The wind goes to the south, and goes to the north, spins, spins as it goes, and the wind returns to its circles.

5.

Bartholomeus Brain the Elder (c. 1493-1555). Vanitas, first half of the 16th century. / Barthel Bruyn the Elder (circa 1493-1555). Vanitas, oil on panel. Dimensions 61 × 51 cm. Current location Kröller-Müller Museum. Inscriptions: Placecard next to the skull reads in Latin: Omnia morte cadunt, mors ultima linia rerum. In English translation: Everything passes with death, death is the ultimate limit of all things via

All rivers flow into the sea, but the sea does not overflow: to the place from which the rivers flow, they return to flow again.
All things are in labor: a person cannot retell everything; The eye will not be satisfied with seeing, nor the ear will be filled with hearing.

6.

Solesmes, Bibliothèque de l'abbaye Saint-Pierre, 018, f. 145. Heures d'Ottobeuren, 16th century

What has been is what will be; and what has been done will be done, and there is nothing new under the sun.

7.


Livre d'heures, en latin et en français, à l'usage de Cambray. Devise. Vous seul. Date: 1401-1500. Bibliothèque de l'Arsenal, Ms-1185 réserve. Provenance: bnf.fr.

There is something about which they say: “look, this is new”; but [this] was already in the centuries that were before us.
There is no memory of the past; and those who come after will have no memory of what will happen.

8.

Douai, Bibliothèque municipale, 0118, detail of f. 281 (marginal illustration for Office of the Dead). Early 16th cent. via

I, Ecclesiastes, was king over Israel in Jerusalem;
and I gave my heart to search and test with wisdom all that is done under heaven: this difficult task God gave to the sons of men so that they would practice in it.
I have seen all the works that are done under the sun, and behold, everything is vanity and vexation of spirit!
What is crooked cannot be made straight, and what is not there cannot be counted.

9.

San Marino, Huntington Library, HM 01132, detail of f. 106. Book of Hours, use of Rome. Italy, late 15th century

I spoke to my heart like this: behold, I have become exalted and gained wisdom more than all who were before me over Jerusalem, and my heart has seen much wisdom and knowledge.
And I gave my heart to know wisdom and to know madness and stupidity: I learned that this too is languor of the spirit;

10.


St. Gallen, Stiftsbibliothek, Cod. Sang. 357, detail of f. 343.Missal. St. Gall, 1555

because in much wisdom there is much sorrow; and whoever increases knowledge increases sorrow."

11.

Vincent Van Gogh (1853-1890). Skull, 1887 / Van Gogh, Skull, 1887. Oil on canvas, 41.5 x 31.5 cm. Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam.

Vanitas (Latin vanitas, lit. - “vanity, vanity”) is a genre of painting of the Baroque era, an allegorical still life, the compositional center of which is traditionally the human skull. Similar paintings early stage development of still life, were intended to remind us of the transience of life, the futility of pleasures and the inevitability of death. It became most widespread in Flanders and the Netherlands in the 16th and XVII centuries, individual examples of the genre are found in France and Spain.

Pieter Claesz. (1596-1661). Still life Vanitas (vanity of vanities) with musical instruments (1628) (Amsterdam, State Museum)

The term goes back to the biblical verse (Eccl. 1:2) Vanitas vanitatum et omnia vanitas (“Vanity of vanities, said Ecclesiastes, vanity of vanities, all is vanity!”).

Unknown artist. Still life Vanitas (vanity of vanities) with books (1633) (Amsterdam, State Museum)

The symbols found on the canvases were intended to remind us of the frailty of human life and the transience of pleasures and achievements:

• The skull is a reminder of the inevitability of death. Just as a portrait is only a reflection of a once living person, so a skull is only the shape of a once living head. The viewer should perceive it as a “reflection”; it most clearly symbolizes the frailty of human life.


• Rotten fruit is a symbol of aging. Ripe fruits symbolize fertility, abundance, figuratively wealth and prosperity. A number of fruits have their own meaning: the Fall is represented by pears, tomatoes, citrus fruits, grapes, peaches and cherries, and of course, the apple. Figs, plums, cherries, apples or peaches have erotic connotations.


• Flowers (fading); rose is the flower of Venus, a symbol of love and sex, which is vain, like everything inherent in man. Poppy is a sedative from which opium is made, a symbol of the mortal sin of laziness. The tulip is a collectible in the 17th century Netherlands, a symbol of thoughtlessness, irresponsibility and unwise handling of God-given wealth.


• Sprouts of grain, branches of ivy or laurel (rarely) are a symbol of rebirth and the cycle of life.


• Sea shells, sometimes live snails - a mollusk shell is the remains of a once living animal; it signifies death and mortality. The creeping snail is the personification of the mortal sin of laziness. Large clams denote duality of nature, a symbol of lust, another of the deadly sins.


• Soap bubbles - the brevity of life and the suddenness of death; a reference to the expression homo bulla - “man is a soap bubble.”


• A dying, smoking candle (cinder) or oil lamp; cap for extinguishing candles - a burning candle is a symbol of the human soul, its extinguishing symbolizes departure.


• Cups, playing cards or dice, chess (rarely) - a sign of an erroneous life goal, a search for pleasure and a sinful life. Equality of opportunity in gambling also meant reprehensible anonymity.


• A smoking pipe is a symbol of fleeting and elusive earthly pleasures.


• A carnival mask is a sign of the absence of a person inside it. Also intended for festive masquerade, irresponsible pleasure.


• Mirrors, glass (mirror) balls - a mirror is a symbol of vanity, in addition, it is also a sign of reflection, shadow, and not a real phenomenon.


• Broken dishes, usually glass glasses. An empty glass opposed to a full one symbolizes death. Glass symbolizes fragility, snow-white porcelain symbolizes purity. The mortar and pestle are symbols of male and female sexuality. The bottle is a symbol of the sin of drunkenness.


• A knife reminds us of human vulnerability and mortality. It is also a phallic symbol and a hidden image of male sexuality.


• Hourglass and mechanical watches - the transience of time.


• Musical instruments, notes - the brevity and ephemeral nature of life, a symbol of the arts.


• Books and maps (mappa mundi), the writing pen is a symbol of science.


• Globe, both the earth and the starry sky.


• A palette with tassels, a laurel wreath (usually on the head of a skull) are symbols of painting and poetry.


• Portraits of beautiful women, anatomical drawings. Letters symbolize human relationships.


• Red wax seals.


• Medical instruments are a reminder of the diseases and frailty of the human body.


• Wallets with coins, boxes with jewelry - jewelry and cosmetics are intended to create beauty, feminine attractiveness, at the same time they are associated with vanity, narcissism and the mortal sin of arrogance. They also signal the absence of their owners on the canvas.


• Weapons and armor are a symbol of power and might, a designation of what cannot be taken with you to the grave.


• Crowns and papal tiaras, scepters and orbs, wreaths of leaves are signs of transient earthly domination, which is opposed to the heavenly world order. Like masks, they symbolize the absence of those who wore them.


• Keys - symbolize the power of the housewife managing supplies.


• Ruins symbolize the transitory life of those who once inhabited them.


• A sheet of paper with a moralizing (pessimistic) saying, for example:

Jacob de Geyn I. Still life with a skull (1603) (82.6 x 54) (New York, Metropolitan)

Very rarely, still lifes of this genre include human figures, sometimes a skeleton - the personification of death. Objects are often depicted in disarray, symbolizing the subversion of the achievements they represent.

Aelbert Jansz. van der Schoor. Still life Vanitas (vanity of vanities) (1640-1672) (Amsterdam, State Museum)

Vanitas still lifes in their initial form were frontal images of skulls (usually in niches with a candle) or other symbols of death and mortality, which were written on the reverse of portraits during the Renaissance. These vanitas, as well as the flowers that were also painted on the backs, are the earliest examples of the still life genre in European art of the New Age (for example, the first Dutch still life was “Vanitas” by Jacob de Geyn).

Edwaert Collier (c.1640 - after 1707). Still life Vanitas (vanity of vanities) (1662) (Amsterdam, State Museum)

These skulls on the back of the portraits symbolized the mortality of human nature (mors absconditus) and were contrasted with the living state of the model on the back of the picture. The earliest vanitas are usually the most modest and gloomy, often almost monochrome. Vanitas still lifes emerged as an independent genre around 1550.

B. Schaak. Still life Vanitas (vanity of vanities) (1675-1700) (Amsterdam, State Museum)

Artists of the 17th century stopped depicting the skull strictly frontally in the composition and usually “placed” it to the side. As the Baroque era progressed, these still lifes became more and more magnificent and abundant.

Franciscus Gysbrechts (before 1630 - after 1676)). Still life Vanitas (vanity of vanities) (115 x 134) (Antwerp, Royal Museum of Fine Arts)

They gained popularity by the 1620s. The development of the genre until its decline in popularity around the 1650s. centered in Leiden, a Dutch city that Bergstrom, in his study of Netherlandish still life painting, declared "the center of the creation of vanitas in the 17th century." Leiden was an important center of Calvinism, a movement that condemned the moral depravity of mankind and strived for a strong moral code. Bergstrom believed that for Calvinist artists these still lifes were a warning against vanity and frailty and were an illustration of the Calvinist morality of the time. Also, the formation of the genre was probably influenced by humanistic views and the legacy of the memento mori genre.

Harmen Steenwyck. Still life Vanitas (vanity of vanities) (1640)

Jacques de Claeuw. Still life Vanitas (vanity of vanities) (1650) (Amsterdam, State Museum)

Jan Jansz. Treck (c.1606 - 1652). Still Life Vanitas (Vanity of Vanities) (1648) (London, National Gallery)

Jan Pauwel Gillemans the Elder (1618-1675). Still life Vanitas (vanity of vanities) (1654) (96 x 140) (St. Petersburg, Hermitage)

Jan van Kessel (1626-1679). Still life Vanitas (vanity of vanities) (1665-1670) (20.3 x 15.2) (Washington, National Gallery)

Joris van Son (1622-1667). Allegory of Human Life (1658-1660) (124.7 x 92.7) (Baltimore, Walters Museum)

N. L. Peschier. Still Life Vanitas (Vanity of Vanities) (1659-166) (Philadelphia Museum of Art)

N.L. Peschier. Still life Vanitas (vanity of vanities) (1660) (Amsterdam, State Museum)

Peter Sion the Elder. Still life Vanitas (vanity of vanities) (private collection)

Pieter Claesz. (1596-1661). Still life Vanitas (vanity of vanities) (1628) (24.1 x 35.9) (New York, Metropolitan)

Pieter Claesz. (1596-1661). Still life Vanitas (vanity of vanities) (1630) (39.5 x 56) (The Hague, Royal Gallery Mauritshuis)

Pieter Claesz. (1596-1661). Still life Vanitas (vanity of vanities) (c.1628) (36 x 59) (Nuremberg, National Museum of Germany)

Franciscus Gysbrechts (before 1630 - after 1676)). Still life Vanitas (vanity of vanities) (85.7 x 59)

Pieter Claesz. Still life Vanitas (vanity of vanities) (1636) (47 x 61) (Münster, Westphalian State Museum of Cultural History and Art)

Pieter Symonsz. Potter. Still life Vanitas (1646) (Amsterdam, State Museum)

Stevers. Still life Vanitas (vanity of vanities) (1630-1660) (Amsterdam, State Museum)

Bartholomeus Brain the Elder, 1st half. XVI century

Philippe de Champagne, 2nd half. XVII century

Pieter Boel, 1663

Simon Renard de Saint-André, c. 1650

Jurian van Streck, ca. 1670

And several of his etchings. First of all, visitors need to be shown portraits of an old man and an old woman. The images of old people are very soulful; they convey not so much external beauty, which has long since passed away. Their visual appeal is a thing of the past. A master with amazing talent shows how rich the inner life of his heroes is, their inner world.

Rembrandt “Portrait of an Elderly Woman” Rembrandt “Portrait of an Old Man”

One of the brilliant masterpieces of the museum is the canvas.

The plot tells the story of a Jewish girl named Esther. She becomes the wife of an eastern despot, King Artaxerxes, who does not know about her origin. When the first minister of Artakerxes, Haman, prepares a secret order for the extermination of all the Jews, Esther, who learned about his cruel plan, takes an oath from her husband that he will fight all her enemies and the enemies of her people. Having learned about Haman's secret plot, Artaxerxes orders his execution. The king follows the oath given to him and takes the side of his wife. The canvas depicts a certain feast, at which all the details of Haman’s secret plan are revealed. Artaxerxes sits in the center, next to him is Esther. On the opposite side is Haman. With the help of light and composition, Rembrandt shows who will be the winner in this confrontation. The figure of Esther is brightly illuminated; she not only glows, but completely shines and shines. The figure of Haman appears in the shadows and it immediately becomes clear that Esther will be the winner in the dispute.

Rembrandt's paintings are described in detail in a series of publications:

Hall 11. Dutch art of the 17th century

Methodical advice: after where it is exhibited, show immediately to room No. 11. The Rembrandt Room is a walk-through room; to continue the tour, you will have to go through this room twice. In the case when Rembrandt's works are shown at the exit, the contrast will be brighter and the impression will be stronger. It turns out that you show huge paintings by Flemish artists, and then go into room No. 11 with small and dark paintings by Dutch masters in modest frames. Therefore, it is advisable to go straight to the hall and show it when you return.

All Dutch art of that time is connected with the Protestant consciousness of the 17th century. Artists depicted townspeople, burghers, even artisans, merchants, who had modest but cozy homes and who decorated their houses with the same small, modest paintings. In Holland at this time, canvases were not created by order of the church or aristocracy, as in Flanders. This is a completely different social order. And the pictures are completely different. On weekdays, such paintings were covered with curtains so that flies would not sit on them and dust would not settle. When a holiday came, guests came or just wanted to look at the picture, the curtains were opened, and then, of course, closed again. Therefore, artists painted very small, cozy paintings. It is no coincidence that the painters who created such images are called.

There are different versions of the origin of this term in art and they are all partly true. On the one hand, these artists are less famous than Frans Hals and Rembrandt are great Dutchmen, that is, everyone else is small compared to them. On the other hand, these chamber works are distinguished by their small format, modest plot, and everyday images, always taken from life. That is, small - not great, small - due to the small size of the canvases, small - because the plot of the paintings was not heroic, but everyday, intimate.

Still lifes. Dutch art of the 17th century

Still lifes were very popular. The paintings of the Dutch masters are incredibly life-like. Dutch painting of the 17th century is already the beginning of realism in painting. The still lifes are surprisingly real, but they are much more modest and natural than those of the Flemings. “Little Dutchmen” do not write an abundance of seafood or fruits of the earth, but so-called “breakfasts”, depicting several modest, seemingly forgotten things. It is no coincidence that their paintings have an amazing sense of the quiet life of objects. In Dutch it is “stil leven”, still life is the French name. In Northern European languages, this name is translated not as dead nature, but as quiet life.

Peter Claes “Breakfast” Gerrit Willems Heda “Ham and silverware”

Landscapes. Dutch art of the 17th century

In the bottom row we see landscapes and, again, they are not huge and monumental, but small, which depict the real backyard of some Dutch village. The collection features the work of Jan Josephs van Goyen “View of the Waal River near Nijmegen.”

Jan Josephs van Goyen “View of the Waal River near Nijmegen”

The Nijmegen fortress played a very important role in the national liberation struggle. But we see not a hero city, but a small fortress on the river bank. The main characters here are the cows who came to the river bank to drink water and the fishermen pulling their nets.

Our attention is drawn to a barrel floating along the river. This is a quiet, peaceful, cozy world, a familiar world, a world that masters saw every day, a world of everyday routine. But the genius of the Dutch painters of the 17th century lies in the fact that they were able to see beauty behind this routine. To do this, you don’t have to go to the ends of the earth and look for spectacular mountains and sunsets, but you just need to look out the window and say: “Oh, how beautiful!” and convey it on your canvas.

The Dutch also became one of the founders of the everyday genre. Actually, the final division of painting into genres occurred in Holland in the 17th century, where the everyday genre was very popular.
We have quite a lot of paintings of the everyday genre; you should pay attention to three things.

Everyday genre. Dutch art of the 17th century

One of the paintings is “Peasant Wedding” by Jan Steen. The plot of this picture is very interesting.

Jan Havics Steen “Peasant Wedding”

It can be seen that all the guests of the bride and groom are laughing very strangely, and the boy is pointing at the bride’s belly with a malicious smile. A young but pregnant bride was slipped into the hands of a middle-aged, respectable groom. He doesn’t know about this yet, and here, laughing lasciviously, he is called into the matrimonial bedroom. This is the right side of the composition. The left side depicts a girl talking with a priest, a mother feeding her child, a girl playing with a dog. The dog is a symbol of fidelity. On the one hand, it is shown what should not be done, and on the other hand, what should be done; the picture clearly shows an example of bad and good behavior.

Everyday genre. Morals.

Dutch painting of the 17th century was incredibly moralizing. And what sometimes seems to us an almost depraved scene is actually an example of how not to behave or, conversely, an indication of how to do it. For example, Terborch's painting depicts a glass of wine. We see a girl who is being treated to wine by a young man and she is ready to drink this wine. In fact, wine is a symbol of debauchery, and in this case it is a symbol of free love. If a man offers a girl a glass of wine, and she accepts this glass of wine, then, obviously, she will accept all his other offers.
Gerard Gerards Terborch “Scene in the Tavern”

A more subdued scene is the parrot scene. In fact, the parrot is a symbol of idleness and stupidity. Here the girl, instead of sewing, is thinking about another, less chaste activity. We see that she closed her needlework box and let the parrot out of the cage, that is, she let her idleness and stupidity out of the cage.
Gabriel Metsu “Girl at Work”

Sick old man. Dutch art of the 17th century

And finally, the scene in the corner, the painting – “The Sick Old Man”. In Soviet times, tears were shed here, mourning the sad old age of this old man, to whom his young daughter shoved dry bones instead of food.

In fact, there is a completely different story here. It happens in a brothel where this old man came. The bawd, written in the center, offers him a young girl. The girl answers him: “Please, everything for your money.” The old man has a wallet with money in his hand. However, the dry bones seem to say that the old sensualist is already like a dried bone, and his idea is not worth a damn. This is emphasized by the empty, eaten shells scattered across the floor.

And in the background of the canvas the exact opposite picture is depicted. There you can see young men and women with whole eggs in a mesh plate. Here we are talking about the fact that trading is in full swing and everything will be successful.

It is also important that all the candles and lamps have gone out, and there is a picture hanging on the wall. If another picture is depicted on a Dutch canvas, then it serves as a kind of key to the interpretation of the plot. The painting on the wall depicts the Old Testament story “Susanna and the Elders.”
Jan Havics Stan “The Sick Old Man”

The story tells how the old men harassed Susanna, and when the girl refused them, they tried to slander her, saying that it was she who seduced them. In the religious Jewish state, Susanna was supposed to be stoned for this. But the wise judge thought of interrogating the old men separately and it turned out that their testimonies did not coincide in detail. Then he realized that the old people were deceiving the court and they were punished. In this case, this is a direct indication that this old man will also be punished for his unworthy behavior and, apparently, soon, because extinguished lamps in Dutch painting mean death.