7Sins7 on DeviantArthttps://www.deviantart.com/7sins7/art/Vanitas-1816871157Sins7

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Vanitas

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Description

Memento mori is a Latin phrase translated as "Remember your mortality", "Remember you must die" or "Remember you will die." It names a genre of artistic creations that vary widely from one another, but which all share the same purpose: to remind people of their own mortality. The phrase has a tradition in art that dates back to antiquity.

This theme is common in 16th and 17th century painting, appearing in art throughout Europe. Images of Mary Magdalene regularly showed her contemplating a skull. It is also a very common motif in 15th and 16th century British portraiture.

Hamlet meditating upon the skull of Yorick has become the most lasting embodiment of this idea, and has been depicted by later artists as a continuation of the Vanitas tradition.

Paintings executed in the Vanitas style are meant as a reminder of the transience of life, the futility of pleasure, and the certainty of death. They also provided a moral justification for many paintings of attractive objects. (from the Wikipedia pages on 'Memento mori' and 'Vanitas')




A moral justification for paintings of attractive objects? Now I like the sound of that. Remember folks, this is not a picture of a hot girl in a sexy outfit, its a reminder of your own mortality. You are looking at the skull, right?


Thanks for looking, comments and faves! :heart:
Image size
1262x1112px 129.87 KB
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VisionXtream's avatar
Really nice use of shading and really good textures!