Curious About...

The Ancient World

Books

Much of what Renaissance Europeans knew about the ancient world came from preserved manuscripts. The invention of the printing press around 1440 allowed Renaissance humanists to read and share these texts, as well as texts of their own. Knowledge in the 1600s was both highly-valued and readily available across Europe. Many artists depicted specific volumes in their paintings, such as Wither’s Emblemes, which added layers of meaning for their literate, well-educated audience.

Roemers

Roemers (sometimes anglicized to "rummers"), is Dutch for "Roman", and describes a type of drinking glass popular in the Netherlands in the 1600s. As their name suggests, they were fashioned after ancient Roman glasses of the same general shape and design. The stem is covered in blown glass protrusions, which helped drinkers maintain their grip.

The Natural World

Flowers

Many of the natural elements in Vanitas paintings are as detailed as they are beautiful. Flowers, in particular, adorn these still lives and provide pops of bright color. Their realism, however, is indicative of the Netherlandish focus on the natural world. The flowers depicted in still life paintings come from all over the world and were studied extensively. Botanists and artists worked closely to illustrate the flora found in the Netherlands and beyond, allowing them to better understand the inner workings of nature itself.

Shells

The depiction of shells in Vanitas paintings is rarer than flowers, yet they are painted with just as much attention to detail. Many of these shells originated outside of the Netherlands, brought to Europe through trade and exploration. Some artists included so much detail that marine biologists have been able to identify the specific species of mollusk that made the shell in the painting.

Butterflies

Along with plants and seashells, animals were also increasingly studied in the Early Modern period. Many artists produced detailed studies of individual insects, relying on close observation to document the shapes, colors, and anatomy of living creatures. As with seashells, the butterflies included in Vanitas paintings are usually so detailed that their species can be determined.

Watches

Mechanical clocks were introduced in Europe around the 1300s, but timekeeping was rough and imprecise. During the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, new inventions allowed the watch to become smaller and more accurate. For the first time, time pieces were portable and could be consulted in any weather. Christiaan Huygens, a Dutch horologist, is often credited with the development of the pendulum clock, as well as several types of escapements used to control the internal pieces of a watch. Keeping track of time meant bringing order to the chaos of the universe.

While part of the natural world, time was also instrumental in navigation. As the Dutch set their sights on foreign lands, the watch helped them measure distance, determine where they were in the world, and expand their horizons.

The Expanding World

Maps

Maps in Vanitas paintings are the clearest symbol of the expansion of European knowledge. The 1400s and 1500s sparked a new fervor for exploration in all directions; as far east as Indonesia, west to the Americas, and south around the tip of Africa. While map-making stretches back beyond antiquity, many of them expressed concepts rather than physical places. The post-Renaissance era exploration in Europe made knowing your exact location more important than ever before.

Globes

Globes in the 17th century were often made in pairs: terrestrial, showing the worldly geography, and celestial, showing the constellations of the night sky. For this reason, many Vanitas paintings depict two globes, highlighting the importance of astronomy in navigation. Especially at sea, the stars were far more helpful in determining direction than physical landmarks. By including globes, Vanitas painters showcase both the legacy of ancient knowledge and European exploration of the world.

Flags

The Dutch flag was developed in the late 1500s during their war for independence from Spain. It may be the only symbol that is solely unique to Dutch Vanitas paintings; its inclusion represents the provinces’ resistance to Spanish rule and the unity forced upon them.

Originally, the flag was orange, white, and blue after the colors of the House of Orange (whose name is unrelated to both the fruit and the color); in the mid-1600s, the colors changed to red, white, and blue (colors which had previously been used for the flag of Holland) in an attempt to separate their national identity and politics from the House of Orange. Both versions of the Dutch flag were flown by the Dutch Navy and variations were used for the East and West India Companies, as well as Dutch colonies.