Vanitas, oil on canvas with a small cartouche, Italy circa 1850.

Italy half 19th century.

The painting presents an unusual shape, that of the circle, a direct reference to the clipeated portrait of the Roman tradition. The frame is made of fruit wood finished in pastille and gilded which sees the reiteration of a curvilinear module in the profile ending in mirrored scrolls. The canvas is placed on a fruit wood table and represents a table with a surface projecting towards the viewer. Above, the central figure of the skull. The attention to the rendering of the table is deliberately denied in the skull which presents flaking brushstrokes, to emulate its consumption. The skull is graduated, wearing the laurel wreath, symbol of victory, which is also worn. In full contrast, the figures of insects, caterpillars, flies, dragonflies and butterflies reveal an extreme attention to detail, the current life that overlaps with lost glories. Equally detailed is the scroll which, pinned to the table, bears the painter’s initials: M. B. FECIT.

23,5” – 60 CM H 23,5” – 60 CM L 3” – 7 CM D

REF: M6035