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Arts & Activities, Oct, 2006 by Colleen Carroll

The skull as a symbol of death and the fleeting nature of human life endured well beyond the first century A.D. The genre known as vanitas was popular during the 17th century and practiced by painters in Flanders and the Netherlands. Meaning "vanity" in Latin, vanitas paintings served as a reminder of the ephemeral nature of life and the certainty of death. Common symbols appear in vanitas paintings of the era, such as the human skull (death), rotting fruit (death and decay) and soap bubbles (the brevity of life). Still-life paintings were commonly used as vehicles to express the themes of this genre. For examples of vanitas paintings, visit the National Gallery, London's Web site, www.nationalgallery.org.uk and do a search for "vanitas."

To this day, contemporary artists continue the vanitas tradition. In the spring of 2000, the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts presented Vanitas: Meditations of Life and Death in Contemporary Art. To see examples from this exhibit, go to www.vmfa.state.va.us/vanitas.html. And the image of the featured artwork is still being used today, in animated form, as part of the main title of the HBO drama series, Rome.