Vanitas symbols and motifs

Pieter Claesz, Vanitas Still Life, 1630, oil on panel, 39 x 56 cm

Phillipe de Champaigne, Still Life with a Skull, 1671, oil on panel, 28 x 37 cm

Abraham Mignon, Vanitas, 17th C, oil on canvas

Willem Claesz Heda, Still Life, 1634, oil on wood, 43 x 57 cm

Jan Vermeulen, Vanitas Still Life, 1654, oil on panel, 73 x 57 cm

I think that my topic this semester of depicting utopic/dystopic imagery will lead me towards investigating Vanitas imagery. Just as I am looking to pick up on symbolism and motifs in films, it is also important to look at art history and the traditions of its depiction there. From these historic artists, I am particularly seeing the trends of depicting skulls, books/paper, flowers, hourglasses, poisonous creatures and broken glass. I will need to create maquettes of these sorts of objects in order to paint them from dioramas.