Vanitas Knowledge Package
Vanitas Knowledge Package
Herman Steenwyck
'Still Life: An Allegory of the Vanitas Human Life' c1640
In seventeenth century Holland, still life grew in popularity as a subject due to the Reformation. In the previous centuries artists had found patronage in the creation of religious imagery for the Catholic Church, but as this support declined, they had to adapt to survive in the new Protestant climate. The artists began to compose still life paintings with symbolic meanings that reflected the protestant thinking of the time and that showcased the artist’s skills in texture and realism.
Holland was perhaps the greatest concentration of wealth on the planet until the emergence of Wall Street as a financial centre in the latter half of the 19th century. The basis for all this wealth was banking and trade, set amidst the first stirrings of the global economy. The lucrative but risky traffic in spices, coffee, chocolate, rum, slaves, were carried in Dutch vessels and financed by Dutch banking firms and some of the earliest stock exchanges. The Dutch East Indies trading company was formed in 1602 became one of the first corporations with global reach.
Still life artworks using symbolic images that reflected Protestant attitudes found favour and patronage from the Dutch merchant classes. The character of different towns is even reflected in their choice of symbolic objects. The university town of Leiden, where Harmen Steenwyck studied art under his uncle David Bailly, preferred skulls and books, whereas the Hague, a market centre, favoured fish with its traditional Christian associations, while many others used flowers, another Dutch product.
In early 17th century, called The Golden Age in the Netherlands, a style of painting emerged that contained an array of objects used to symbolise the inevitability of death and the transient nature of earthly objects, achievements and pleasures. It was labelled Vanitas, deriving from a biblical quotation in Ecclesiastes 1:2
Herman Steenwyck
'Still Life: An Allegory of the Vanitas Human Life' c1640
In seventeenth century Holland, still life grew in popularity as a subject due to the Reformation. In the previous centuries artists had found patronage in the creation of religious imagery for the Catholic Church, but as this support declined, they had to adapt to survive in the new Protestant climate. The artists began to compose still life paintings with symbolic meanings that reflected the protestant thinking of the time and that showcased the artist’s skills in texture and realism.
Holland was perhaps the greatest concentration of wealth on the planet until the emergence of Wall Street as a financial centre in the latter half of the 19th century. The basis for all this wealth was banking and trade, set amidst the first stirrings of the global economy. The lucrative but risky traffic in spices, coffee, chocolate, rum, slaves, were carried in Dutch vessels and financed by Dutch banking firms and some of the earliest stock exchanges. The Dutch East Indies trading company was formed in 1602 became one of the first corporations with global reach.
Still life artworks using symbolic images that reflected Protestant attitudes found favour and patronage from the Dutch merchant classes. The character of different towns is even reflected in their choice of symbolic objects. The university town of Leiden, where Harmen Steenwyck studied art under his uncle David Bailly, preferred skulls and books, whereas the Hague, a market centre, favoured fish with its traditional Christian associations, while many others used flowers, another Dutch product.
In early 17th century, called The Golden Age in the Netherlands, a style of painting emerged that contained an array of objects used to symbolise the inevitability of death and the transient nature of earthly objects, achievements and pleasures. It was labelled Vanitas, deriving from a biblical quotation in Ecclesiastes 1:2