Note: Your tags will not be submitted until you login Create account?
Exit
Vanitas Still Life

Image credit: National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, London

What things, ideas or objects can you see in this artwork?

i

Things are objects or ideas portrayed in the artwork. For example: apple, dog, smile, celebration, etc.

What do we mean by ‘things’?
Can you find what you’re tagging from this list? If so, please select it.
There are records to display, please narrow your criteria
Add as many tags as you want Need help?

Things you’ve added

You can click a tag below to remove it.

Things added by others

Can you name any people depicted in this artwork?

i

People are the names of figures depicted in the artwork. For example: Queen Victoria, Charles Darwin, Florence Nightingale, etc.

What do we mean by ‘people’?
Can you find what you’re tagging from this list? If so, please select it.
There are records to display, please narrow your criteria
Add as many tags as you want Need help?

People you’ve added

You can click a tag below to remove it.

People added by others

Can you name any places depicted in this artwork?

i

Places are geographical locations and venues depicted in the artwork. For example: Glasgow, London Bridge, Belgium, etc.

What do we mean by ‘places’?
Can you find what you’re tagging from this list? If so, please select it.
There are records to display, please narrow your criteria
Add as many tags as you want Need help?

Places you’ve added

You can click a tag below to remove it.

Places added by others

Can you name any events depicted in this artwork?

i

Events are occasions or historical moments shown in the artwork. For Example: WW1, Diamond Jubilee, Birthday Party, Battle of Hastings, etc.

What do we mean by ‘events’?
Can you find what you’re tagging from this list? If so, please select it.
There are records to display, please narrow your criteria
Add as many tags as you want Need help?

Events you’ve added

You can click a tag below to remove it.

Events added by others

How you can use this image

This image can be used for non-commercial research or private study purposes, and other UK exceptions to copyright permitted to users based in the United Kingdom under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, as amended and revised. Any other type of use will need to be cleared with the rights holder(s).

Review the copyright credit lines that are located underneath the image, as these indicate who manages the copyright (©) within the artwork, and the photographic rights within the image.

The collection that owns the artwork may have more information on their own website about permitted uses and image licensing options.

Review our guidance pages which explain how you can reuse images, how to credit an image and how to find images in the public domain or with a Creative Commons licence available.

Notes

Add or edit a note on this artwork that only you can see. You can find notes again by going to the ‘Notes’ section of your account.

This is the only example of still-life painting in the National Maritime Museum's collections. Believed to have been painted in 1694, a year after Edwaert Collier (c.1640/1–1708) arrived in London, the piece is one of comparatively few vanitas works he produced for the English market. Vanitas paintings were so-called because of their association with the book of Ecclesiastes and the oft-quoted lines ‘Vanity of vanities, said the teacher, all is vanity’. Collier incorporates the Latin ‘Vanitas Vanitatum Omnia Vanitas’ [Vanity, vanity, all is vanity] into the composition. At a time when daily life was only a preparation for death and the transition of the soul to either heaven or hell, the message of the painting was clear. Those attributes valued by humans in their terrestrial existence, wealth, pleasure, power, knowledge, were mere vanity and had no significance in the face of eternity.

National Maritime Museum

London

Title

Vanitas Still Life

Date

1694

Medium

oil on canvas

Measurements

H 75.3 x W 62.9 cm

Accession number

ZBA6948

Acquisition method

purchased with the assistance of the Society for Nautical Research Macpherson Fund

Work type

Painting

Tags

This artwork does not have any tags yet. You can help by tagging artworks on Tagger.

Normally on display at

National Maritime Museum

Romney Road, Greenwich, London, Greater London SE10 9NF England

This venue is open to the public. Not all artworks are on display. If you want to see a particular artwork, please contact the venue.
View venue