Vanitas 2013

Roberto Ferri made this painting, titled Vanitas, in the style of the Old Masters. In it, the artist uses striking visual codes to reflect on the nature of beauty and mortality. The vanitas tradition gained traction in 17th-century Europe, particularly in the Netherlands, where the rise of a wealthy merchant class led to new forms of artistic patronage and expression. The vanitas paintings reminded viewers of the transience of earthly pleasures and the inevitability of death. As you can see here, Ferri engages with these themes by contrasting the youthful, radiant flesh of a woman with the stark, bony visage of a skull. The sensuality and decay are juxtaposed, urging the viewer to contemplate the fleeting nature of life. Ferri’s use of the vanitas motif can be viewed as a critique of contemporary society's obsession with youth and beauty. The social history of such an artwork might require research into the changing attitudes toward mortality across different cultures.