Jacques De Claeuw Vanitas Analysis

In seventeenth century Holland, still-life paintings became increasingly popular after the

Reformation. Where artists had previously emphasized religious connotation for the Catholic

Church, some still-life paintings used symbolic images to convey death as an inevitable event.

One particular type of the new style of painting was called "vanitas." The vanitas genre focused

on the brevity of life. In other words, carefully chosen objects were tied to powerful symbolic

undertones of man's journey through life expressing the inability to take life's pleasures to the

Vanitas possesses elements of passing time, worldly desires to obtain material objects

in vain, and deliberate tones expressing how we are only nothing in the face of death.

Transience of

life, futility of pleasure, and the undeniable fact of eminent death were the focal

points of vanitas style art-work. Some vanitas paintings included intangible aspects of life by

including books, inkwells, pen feathers, etc. As included, the intellectual prowess one might

gain in life and its fate will sooner than later succumb to the undeniable presence of

forthcoming mortality.

Temporal possessions and transitory pleasures along with the study and

acquisition of knowledge all weighed insignificantly on the scales of death. A fact frequently

conveyed was even higher learning was just temporarily a state of the living. Vanitas expressed

a somber mood with everything man attempted to obtain in life, either material or existential

and would always lead to death.

Jacques de Claeuw was principally one of five hundreds artists who painted for the

middle-class and the merchants who found the genre fashionable. He was born in

Dordrecht Holland around 1620 during the Baroque period. All the objects in de Claeuw’s

paintings equally represent mementos of life's passing. Such as roses, hourglass, and a snuffed-

out candle were all meant to be seen as reminders of the transience of earthly existence.

Jacques de Claeuw's painting exemplified that life was short and art was eternal.

The books, inkwell, artist’s pallet are meant to show fleeting and transient worldly

pleasures. A pipe symbolizes one of the more simple pleasures of life. An extinguished

candle

on the bottom right of the painting bluntly implies death. The ace of spades card displayed

precariously atop the recorder and royal-like cloth indicates death and fortune telling, that not

even the privileged middle class can hold a match against death. The red medallion further

portrays the deceased as a person of high honor. The violin and recorder may indicate that life’s

pleasure which develop from musical talent will cease to play anymore when death finally plays

its last note. The color palette also emphasizes the artistic nature of the deceased, all that is

left are the dried colors that once flowed freely.

The hour-glass symbolizes grains of sand that have long passed just as each moment in

time has long expired. The celestial globe with a zodiac represented the heavenly and earthly

cycles of passing moons and time and man’s fleeting attempt to predict future events. Books

shown in the portrait were also popular mementos of the middle class and those who could

afford them. Books were symbolic for wisdom and prestige. Since higher learning was only

available to the few who could afford literature. Books featured highlighting the temporary

state of nature, wealth and wisdom.

Given the assortment of objects in the painting there exists a wide range of textures.

Hard, solid objects, textile, and paper in the form of playing cards and a paper portrait are all

meant to show some everyday items which typically would not be in the same place at once.

Flat surfaces can be seen against folded and pleated noble attire. This shows the

depth and contour and adds the perception of dimension. The angles of the painting steer the

eye towards the upper-right hand part of the painting. The linear perspective is somewhat

evasive as most angles and edges of the objects in the painting are juxtaposed. Generally they

lead to the portrait of the person in the painting. It can only be assumed the man in the portrait

is that of the deceased. Oddly, there exists one image that seems hidden on the face of the

vase. The image directly on the vase is unclear and blurred. It possibly could be the deceased or

even an adversary.

Lighting in the painting is diffused and unfocused. No individual object in de Claeuw’s

painting was meant to overshadow another. It is the collective nature of all the objects

together at once that convey the entire theme. Hues and saturation are also consistent and

further stress the importance that no single object is more important than the next. The

symbolism of vanitas genre is the single-most important element of this style of painting. It

is the symbolism that stands out and meant to be noticed above all other elements of

the style. Vanitas art intended to encourage the viewer to do something useful with their life

and to place less value on worldly pleasures.

MacTaggart, John. c2009 “Still Life Painting” 20 Nov. 2009 Artfactory:

http://artyfactory.com/art_appreciation/still_life/steenwyck/harmen_steenwyck.htm

“Vanitas.” Encyclopedia Britannica. 2009. Encyclopedia Britannica Online. 20 Nov. 2009

.

Webberley, Helen. Aug. 2009. “Vanitas Painting: the meaning of life and death.” 18 Nov. 2009

http://melbourneblogger.blogspot.com/2009/07/vanitas-paintings-meaning-of-life-and.html

Meijer, Fred G. 2003. “Dutch and Flemish Still-life Paintings.” 18 Nov. 2009

http://books.google.co.jp/books?id=qkW3ff-

NRZoC&pg=PA194&lpg=PA194&dq=Vanitas+Jacques+de+Claeuw&source=bl&ots=Vl58YgW2s-

&sig=xYGjxUZGxSsSsyFpIZh_X43cvCo&hl=ja&ei=rFgIS5SkEZGftgfj45y5Cg&sa=X&oi=book_result

&ct=result&resnum=10&ved=0CDYQ6AEwCQ#v=onepage&q=Vanitas%20Jacques%20de%20Cla

euw&f=false

Khadem, Alain K. c2006. “Vanitas The Complete Works of Alain Khadem.” 18 Nov. 2009

http://www.artisanart.us/vanitas.html

De Claeuw, Jacques. “Vanitas” 1641 – 1676. The Cummer Museum of Art & Gardens. 2009

De Claeuw, Jacques. “Vanitas” 1641 – 1676. Superstock c2009. Nov 18. 2009

http://www.superstock.com/ImagePreview/1075-196