In the arts, Vanitas, is a stpe of symbolic still life painting commonly done by Northern European painters in Flanders and the Netherlands in the sizteenth and seventeenth centuries.
The term, Vanitas itself refers to the arts, learning and time. The word is latin, meaning "emptiness"
Paintings executed in the Vanitas style are meant as a reminder of the transience of life, the futility of pleasure, and the cartainty of death, encouraging a sombre world view. Common Vanitas symbols include skulls, reminder of death; rotten fruit, representing decay like ageing; bubbles, which symbolise the brevity of life and the suddeness of death; smoke, watches and hourglasses; and musical instruments, symbolizing the ephemeral mature of life.
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