Expressing a weariness with this life and yearning for the next, they originated in Flanders, but soon became popular in the Dutch Republic in its Golden Age.
Dujardin
Originating in the Northern Renaissance, these paintings expressed feelings of emptiness, and the futility of earthly life. Examples of these elaborate allegories.
Applying his soft pastels to vellum, his paintings are hyper-realist in their fine detail. He was also an eccentric, living mostly in Turkish dress, and a renowned painter of portraits.
Huge clam shells were a common feature in paintings of the birth of Venus, and other classical myths. They also feature in many ‘vanitas’ paintings.
How can visual artists express non-visual concepts like the senses, virtues, the struggle between good and evil? Examples from Botticelli, Tintoretto, Rubens, and others.
Curious still lifes and more containing allegories about the emptiness and futility of life on earth, and its brevity. Even seen in CĂ©zanne and Jacek Malczewski.
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