Denotation and Connotation in a Still Life Painting (Pieter Claesz)

Vanitas is a type of symbolic work of art particularly associated with Northern European still life painting in Flanders and the Netherlands in the 16th and 17th centuries. Paintings executed in the Vanitas style act as a reminder of the transience of life, the certainty of death, and the futility of pleasure. They also provided a moral justification for many paintings of attractive objects.

Common symbols within these still life paintings include skulls - which act as a reminder for the viewer of the certainty of death, rotten fruit which is used to symbolise ageing and decay, bubbles to represent the brevity of life and musical instruments, which symbolise the brevity and the passing of time in life. The musical instruments in particular can represent the pleasure of music and it's transience, a metaphor for the fact that life's pleasures are not permanent. Flowers, butterflies and fruit within these paintings are also often associated with this morbid theme - lemons are often used within Vanitas (or Vanitas style paintings) to symbolise the bitterness of life.

Society's awareness of death was not abandoned with the end of the Twelve Year Truce - in the 1620's society suffered from two outbreaks of the Plague, this may account for the content of Vanitas paintings, whose recurring motifs, particularly the skull, was a constant reminder of morality.

However, there remained a redeeming Christian reference, the chaplet of corn on a skull, a reminder of the Resurrection. Fuchs suggests that this density of morbid symbols would have appealed to the intelligentsia at Leiden University, centre for the study of Calvinism. (R.H.Fuchs, Dutch Painting, (London, 1994), 115.)

Symbolism was present in every form of 'Still Life' but never more significant than in Vanitas work where everything spoke of the inevitability of death. Examples of these symbols are in the paintings above, such as the violin which is symbolic of the vice of enjoyment and the fading of music, and the burning candle which screams out the message to the viewer that life will eventually end.

Traditional still life painting is still attractive - simple light, simple techniques, and a simple set of objects create a sort of dignified feeling. Still life paintings such as these are very rich in historical and cultural connotation.