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March 12, 2010
Ecclesiastes 1:2
Nice preemptive strike, Simon, but we all know it's because of Vanity that you've joined the twittering 'community'. It's all right - we are not judgemental!
Myself, I have been shoping lately.
I know it's not so unusual in the 21st century Britain, even in a recession, as to merit a mention here. But my shopping is different. For I've been driven and inspired by Vanity, you see, or strictly speaking - Vanitas.
Vanitas paintings were mostly 17th century, mostly Dutch, still lives depicting arrangements of flowers, coins, perfume bottles, books, jewelry and other worldly objects, next to symbols of transience and brevity of life: a scull, a candle, an hourglass. You can see some nice examples of Vanitas paintings online.
I must have seen them many times before, but wasn't aware it was such a narrow genre. Now I really want one of my own.
So, rather that acquiring an original Vanitas painting (too expensive) or a mass reproduction poster (too cheap), I decided to make my own composition and display it on a side table as an eye-catching memento mori. So far I have found a very handsome scull on Portobello market and am keeping my eyes open for an hourglass.
Vanity of vanities, all is vanity!
Posted by Marzena at March 12, 2010 07:50 PM