In painting, memento mori celebrate the values of humanism, and come in the form of portraits that juxtapose life and death, such as The Ambassadors by Hans Holbein the Younger and his anamorphosis of a human skull. The famous Transi by René de Chalon signed by Ligier-Richier, a gaunt skeleton holding his heart in one hand, is one of the most emblematic works of this movement. Christian art has been particularly fascinated by the memento mori In the Middle Ages, people loved dances of death, paintings mixing the dead and the living, rich and poor, which recalled the uselessness of power and money in the face of death.ĭuring the Renaissance, the memento mori multiplied with the transis, these sculptures which adorned the tombs and represented the bodies of the deceased. In antiquity, it was often seen on the mosaics that adorned houses, such as the one found in a house in Pompeii, which represents him alongside a butterfly, emblem of the soul. The memento mori can take very different forms, but one element is omnipresent: the skull, the universal symbol of death. Of course, like many philosophies of the time, this resulted in a rich artistic imagery that is now commonplace.Īdriaen van Utrecht, Still Life of Vanitas with Flowers and Skull, 1642. The fleeting nature of these vanity items was juxtaposed with the immortality of the soul and the idea that energy had to be put to the service of the hereafter. This practice required people to detach themselves from their earthly possessions and luxuries. Memento mori, which means "remember you are going to die", may sound morbid to some, but it was a discipline that was held in high regard. In medieval Europe, when plagues abounded, a particular philosophy emerged which asked people to meditate on objects that reminded them of life and death. Throughout history, especially in times of conflict, people have been encouraged to think about death and its meaning. not always been the case.Įxterior panel by Jan Gossaet, Diptych by Carondelet, 1517. We have all heard the expression "nothing lasts forever" it is a saying about the fleeting nature of life, reminding us of our mortality, although most cultures today find a discussion of death disturbing, it does. Pieter Claesz, Still Life with a Writer's Skull and Feather, 1628.
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