A Vanitas Still Life of 1621

8/18/2019 A Vanitas Still Life of 1621

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B.A. HEEZEN-STOLL

A Vanitas Still Life of 1621 by Jacques de Gheyn II:

a Reflection of Neo-Stoic ideas

/lcr(.v?!? ? I. Berystri?rrr (Note 1), Dutch 7 7f//-r?f/?Nryvanitas luere meant make peo-

ple reflect on the shortness tbe-fragility carvdthe !?7??!'fy ?n'?? and arc character-ized by a serious, everr morhid, atmosphere attrilmtable to the moral-istic approach o f the and in particular Calpinism, which Leiden Unipcrsity (Jlasa

concluded that the ill them r?rc?c?f!? the arts, sciences, prosperity,

power and pleasures are 110tonly doomed to perish, but also constitute a r??arr2iry?1a,gai11stpride irr

knowled?e the sin f iilness to which art, pot.ver and pleasure can lead.

However, on closer study (Note 2), this morhid character ofter? appears to he while the so-

metimes very positive approach to the arts and sciences ccastsdoubts on tlte idea that they trorrsrnit aThe inscriptions on Hendrik Note 3), j'or example,

glorUy the arts and sciences and this appreciation is underlined by o f Hercules at hottorn

left, the virtuous hero who tlrrov?Jh Iris laborlrs syrrtbolizes Fortitudo, the quality needed to carry atask tlrrough to a ,good cnd. True, the srTUfjedcandle, hour??luss, skull and motto MEMENTO

MOR7pO!'M?O?C??M?M??M??K??M??C?M??rM?!'M?M?ourable, i f work has been done with perseverance during that life. Again, arlother early example, a

ctttributed toJarr Davidsz. dce Heern 2, Note 4), implies by its motto NON OMNIS

MORIAR that the human spirit survives death. On the one hand the cars of corn round tl?c

skull syrnbolize resurrection, on the other the laurel wreath stands the f'arrre one can acquirearnory? posterity by deeds and works (Note 5 ).

'

Renunciation il'orld, (generally rr?r?Y? as the only idea behind vanitas cornhositiorrs (Note

6), was rrotlrin? rrc?lc?irr the 17th century and cannot he the !'M/7!


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being transiernt, rtot worth endangering ono's peare (:fmind for. Thus the idea vanitas vanita-turn is essentially a Stoic one and not an expression of Christiarr jorsaking of the world (Note 16).Although the Christian must not indulge his emotions, they are nonetheless part of God's creation

(Note 17) and can have a positive value.'

Howci,,er, in still lifes vanitas vanitatum can only relate to such things as coins, crowns, jewels or

portraits of loved ones. Over against these bona corporis et extcrna stand the inalienable bona

animi, ol?iectsconnected with the life after death, education and ,«hooiin,g, books, perts, s


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Another important aspect of the artes liberalis is theJ1me they can Fame and honour were

highly valued in the 17th century as the most ciidiiriiig side of hurnarr life and the reward for lahours

on the path to virtue. Examples may he cited from Carel van Mander (Note 50), Jan (Note

51), and Van Hoogstratert (Fig. 6, Note 52) o f tlte idea that ut,i(lyii,i,?,.I-atnccan be achieved throughthe arts and sciences and that they are also linked with virtue. Otto Vatl Tleen calsomakes the link

between virtue, knou,lcd,?e and art (Fig. 7, Note 53), which scertis to underlie the ol jects represent-

ing the arts in vanitas compositions, witness some o f tlte inscriptions on them (Note 54) and the un-equivocal statement in an emhlem of Samhucus (Fig. 8, Note 48).In the middle of tlre ohjects ort the table is a skull wreathed with laurel. The skull isgenc?rally taken,in accordance with Ril)a, to stafid for triumphant death (Note 56), hut its association with resurrec-

tion (ears of corn) (Note 57) and virtue (laurel wreath, Note 58) a reminder both of human

mortality and the virtue that will be reii,ardcd. Unswerving virtue, constant even irl the Jace asa stoi< ider,f


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re


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Hannen and Pieter Stcetiti,?jck. Now, a painting qf°11603 by De Cheyn (Fig. 16, Note

106) appears to be tlte earliest vanitas still lifo, while tlte vanitas theme can he s?rown to occurfre-

quently in early l7tla-century alba amicorum (Note 107), rtotahly in a ilriiu>in,go f 1609 by Paulvan Someren 17, Note 108). Thus it is tempting to see De Cheyn as Urheber the ,genreand Bailly as developin? the theme further artd an important itil7tictice in Lc?ydc?rt(Note

109).

Hondius' engravirty a_ further exarrtple inf lt?erlce Cheyn's painting,in which the humanist atmosphere is still prc?sent,albeit the syrrrhols mark this too as a vanitas com-

position. From tlzis it would seern that our conception probably hased too much on

paintirt?s of t?te 1620's and 1630's, must he widened to include the humanist contrihwion. A vani-

tas stili lij-e can also he re?larded as the presentation that cary f urtheror hinder the virtuous

l fe, the choice of that being emphasized by some inscriptions, syrnhols of the resurrection and all

those olvects that represent studium in tlte widest sense. The new aspect introduced by Neo-

Stoicism in the 16th century was this very man's power f sel f-irnproaernent. It was later

on, especially after the 1630's, that the syrnbols c f vanity ??ot tlre upper hcand,the arts and sciences

also being involved in the slitj't, so that books corne to be shou'rl as tattered and irtstrrt?rtents mirms

their strings (Note 110).

A Vanitas Still Life of 1621

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