Vanitas (Still Life), with globe, skull, candle, tazza, and covered cup / Willem Claesz Heda
Viewer
About this Item
Record Details
- Accession Number
- 1965/2.55
- Title
- Vanitas (Still Life), with globe, skull, candle, tazza, and covered cup
- Artist
- Willem Claesz Heda
- Artist Nationality
- Dutch
- Artist Life Dates
- 1594-1680
- Medium and Support
- oil on panel
- Object Creation Date
- 1633-1635
- Object Creation Place
- Europe (continent)
- Netherlands (nation)
- North Holland (province)
- Haarlem (inhabited place)
- Creation Place 1
- Europe (continent)
- Creation Place 2
- Netherlands (nation)
- Creation Place 3
- North Holland (province)
- Creation Place 4
- Haarlem (inhabited place)
- Credit Line
- Museum Purchase
- Style/Group/Movement
- Baroque
- Period
- Europe, Baroque (1590-1750)
- Dimensions
- 56 cm x 80.9 cm (22 1/16 in. x 31 7/8 in.)
- Century
- 17th century
- Primary Object Classification
- Painting
- Primary Object Type
- vanitas
- Secondary Object Classification
- Painting
- Secondary Object Type
- still life
- Physical Description
- This remarkable still life depicts a table crowded with, among other things, a gilded covered goblet, a wide saucer-shaped silver tazza, a celestial globe painted with images of the constellations, a skull wearing a laurel wreath, and an extinguished candle, all rendered in exquisite detail with careful attention paid to the effects of light and texture. While the arrangement of objects may appear casual, the composition is artfully balanced along two diagonal axes centered on the two cups that lie crossed on the table. The repetition of ovoid shapes throughout the painting and the monochrome tonality with its restricted range of hues and values, a hallmark of Heda's style, assures the seamless integration of the sundry objects into a unified whole.
- Subject Matter
- Many of the objects crowded on the tabletop in this masterful painting--the empty cups laying on their sides, the globe with figures of the zodiac, the skull, the extinguished candle--evoke the passage of time and the transience of human life. This type of painting, known as a vanitas still life, became popular in the Netherlands during the seventeenth century, and Heda, who worked in the city of Haarlem, was one of its most renowned practitioners. The admonition against finding security in life and its comforts, however, is counterbalanced in the painting by the delight in the objects tantalizingly arranged along the edge of the table and Heda's skill in rendering their sensuous qualities such as the glint of precious metal and the cool weight of the chain against the velvety tablecover.
- Primary Keywords
- baroque
- candlesticks
- cups
- globes (cartographic spheres)
- skull (skeleton component)
- vanitas
- Secondary Keywords
- animal material
- animal material by form or function
- candleholders
- candles and candleholders
- containers
- containers by function or context
- containers for serving and consuming food
- culinary containers
- descriptors
- drinking vessels
- european
- european styles and periods
- furnishings
- furnishings by form or function
- information artifacts
- information artifacts by physical form
- information forms
- lighting devices
- lighting devices by form
- materials
- materials by origin
- objects we use
- people and culture
- renaissance-baroque styles and periods
- skeleton and skeleton components
- skeleton components
- still lifes
- styles and periods
- styles and periods by region
- vessels for serving and consuming food
- visual works
- visual works by subject type
- Rights
- If you are interested in using an image for a publication, please visit https://umma.umich.edu/about/services/request-image/ for more information and to fill out the online Image Rights and Reproductions Request Form.
Technical Details
- Collection
- University of Michigan Museum of Art
- Image Size
- 3543 x 2432
- File Size
- 319 KB
- Record
- 1965/2.55
- Link to this Item
-
https://quod.lib.umich.edu/m/musart/x-1965-sl-2.55/1965_2.55.jpg
Rights and Permissions
Related Links
Portfolios
IIIF
- Manifest
-
https://quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/i/image/api/manifest/musart:1965-SL-2.55:1965_2.55.JPG
Cite this Item
View the Help Guide for more information.
- Full citation
-
"Vanitas (Still Life), with globe, skull, candle, tazza, and covered cup; Willem Claesz Heda." In the digital collection University of Michigan Museum of Art. https://quod.lib.umich.edu/m/musart/x-1965-sl-2.55/1965_2.55.jpg. University of Michigan Library Digital Collections. Accessed April 16, 2024.
