Vanitas Still-Life

still-life

In this still-life (An Allegory of the Vanities of Human Life) the sharp beam of light emanating from the upper left draw's the viewer's attention to the human skull placed in the centre. Surrounded by an array of objects, it rests on a recorder with an incised letter A. The prominence of the skull, together with an array of vanitas objects such as the watch and extinguished oil lamp, suggest that the painting is what traditionally has been labeled a vanitas still-life.

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About the Artist

Harmen Steenwijck

1612 – 1656

Dutch painter. Harmen Steenwijck and his painter brother Pieter were the sons of a spectacle and lens maker who lived in Delft from 1590s to 1654. Both sons became pupils of their relative David Bailly who lived and worked in Leiden. Harmen studied there between 1628-1633. He moved from Leiden to Delft in 1628 and shared a studio with his brother. In 1654 he traveled to the East Indies, returning to Holland the following year. He worked in a luminous and illusionistic manner, resembling that of Bailly, Dou and Lievens.

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