Harmen Steenwyck's painting An Allegory of the Vanities of Human Life depicts a selection of objects placed upon a table, each of which carries a symbolic meaning. These include the skull, the Japanese sword, the lute, the book, the chronometer, the shell, a smoking taper, the oil lamp, the jar and the silk cloth.
Composition
The overall layout is governed by combined diagonal composition and golden section both of which contribute to the compositional balance of the picture. The rectangular format of the painting can be divided diagonally into two triangular segments separating the busy right from the empty left half of the pictorial space and creating strong contrast.
Another diagonal division is indicated by the ray of light from from the top left to the bottom right and falling directly on the skull. The skull placed at the intersection of the vertical and horizontal lines is highlighted as the main object. The close viewpoint is makes the objects appear as if being within the reach. Although the background is not clearly pronounced, we can still recognize a sense of depth implied by the receding edge of the table, textile folds, eye and nose sockets of the skull and the open books as well as by volumes of the objects. These all enhance the sense of perspective.
Lighting
The scene is illuminated by directional light from the top left corner. The objects appear to be randomly thrown together but the use of lighting creates a unified group with sharply delineated individual items. The medioum of oil and fine brushstrokes allows sharp contours, elaborate textures and distinctive details. The directional light produces sharp contrasts, such as between the corners of hte far right that fade into blackness and the well-lit left of the painting.
Conversely, certain objects witihn the group are softly modelled by light, which also enhances roundness of their volumes contained within sharp contours. Fully defined are the clearly illuminated shell and the oil lamp. Volumes are visible in other objects too but in most of them the artist used wide range of shading to suggest distribution of light and shadow.Very fine and gradual shading is used in the lute where the light is distributed more evenly.
Colour and Technique
Oil paint allows delicate details and recognizable textures. The structure of wood, elaborate metalwork, creases of the fabric, cracks and dents, even the individually rendered book pages evoke the sense of touch.
Fineness of detail is attained by very delicate brushwork using combination of straight and slightly curved strokess of varying lenths but all rateher short. Some very short, almost dot-like strokes stress the surface of the skull bone, while clusters of longer, thinner and rounded strokes convey the dispersion of the rays of light and its transition into shadows.
The colour range is limited to the warm, subdued tones.Some areas are accentuated with golden-yellow or even whitish tones, producing glowing effects. The choice of colour and light accents creates very subdued, almost spiritual atmosphere.
Meaning
The depicted objects refer to senses and, by implication to the physical aspects of being. The way that the technical treatment of the painting interacts with its content contributes to the contemplative mood. The skull represents a strong contrast with the objects of everyday life. While these are associated with pleasures and achievements of physical existence, the skull represents death.
Light has spiritual associations and its fall directed at the skull further intensifies the contrast between the spiritual and the physical, between life and death. The chronometer placed near the skull symbolises the passage of time and the extinguished oil lamp suggests brevity of life.
Source: National Gallery London
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