Vanitas is a popular tradition that started during the Baroque period in seventeenth-century Holland. The Vanitas Tradition symbolizes the brevity of life and how unimportant the things of this world are. Vanitas Flower Still Life. Willem Van Aelst, uses iconography and represents the tradition beautifully.
The Vanitas Tradition started during the 17th century in Holland. It quickly spread throughout all of Europe. Vanitas comes from a verse in the Latin Bible in the book of Ecclesiastes: vanitas vanitatum et omnia vanitas. This means vanity of vanities and all is vanity.# The Dutch seemed to live by this verse, always remembering that this life will not last. Many believe it was this mindset that caused unheard of political and economic growth in the Dutch Republic. Vanitas still lifes usually contain objects such as skulls, gutted candles, flowers, bones, hourglasses, etc. These all symbolize the brevity of life in one way or another. The main message of the tradition is......

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Title: Vanitas
Approximate Word Count: 442
Approximate Pages: 2 (250 words per double-spaced page)

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