Master of Vanitas ‘Antonio de Pereda’

Vanintas by Antonio [Photo provided = Wikipedia]

▼Copyright : The legal right of the creator to his or her work.

▼Applicated to : Arts architectural design computer programs videos fonts papers etc.

Every work of art has a copyright a right to be protected from imitation and abuse. However copyrights also have expiration dates which is 70 years after the holders death. From the point the work can be shared. So-called Copyleft series Peoples Painting we will get to know artists whose copyright expires after leaving numerous masterpieces in their lifetime.

Name : Antonio de Pereda

Birth : March 20th 1611

Death : January 30th 1678

Nationality : Spain

Style : Vanitas Religious painting

Representative works : Saint Jerome The Knights Dream Allegory of Vanity

‘Memento Mori’ is a phrase from the old Romans which means Always think of death. They used the phrase to emphasize the value of humility and often said it to victorious soldiers. Skulls have often appeared in past works of art and it is called Vanitas. Today in Peoples Painting Antonio de Pereda and his work will be introduced. He is a Vanitas painter representing Spain with the early death of his parents.

Born in Valladolid a village located about two hours from the Madrid Antonio de Pereda was the youngest in a family of artists. Antonios two brothers also became painters later making the family famous in the village.

Unfortunately when Antonio turned 11 both of his parents passed away. So he moved to Madrid where his uncle lived. His uncle after recognizing Antonio’s talent for art introduced him to Madrids famous painter Pedro de las Cuevas. Antonia grew up to be a Madrid painter to have outstanding skills even compared to the popular Andalusian artists of the time.

Polishing skills by imitating Velasquez and Riveras works he painted religious and historical paintings by request even though he was 24 years old. At that time the Reformation was taking place in Flanders and many artists preferred landscapes and still-life paintings. Vanitas paintings were also popular which had a strong characteristic of still-life paintings having skeletons and books as objet.

Spain on the other hand was rejecting Protestants and religious painting was still dominant. However Antonio who was one of the best religious painters gradually shifted interests in still-life paintings and at one point became the best artist in Spain to paint Vanitas.

His first work ‘Allegory of Vanity’ in 1636 is considered to be the pinnacle masterpiece of all Vanitas paintings. On the left side of the desk is a pile of skulls hourglass and extinguished candles. On the right there are gold coin accessories globe crowns each of them symbolizing knowledge power wealth and angel staying in the middle.

We feel that time flies as we get older. We would never know whether if its going faster and its likely its not. However the common features of the candle skull and hourglass that in the painting is that they all have an end. Psychologically the closer you get to the end it feels like the less time you have left the faster you feel it.

Antonios ‘Allegory of Vanity’ may share same teachings of the phase ‘Memento Mori’. It emphasizes the value of life which is immeasurable whether someone is young or old.

In the same context Antonio completed another Vanitas painting The Knights Dream in 1650. What is interesting about this work is that it has a triplet symbolizing the Pope and a crown symbolizing the king. This means that knowledge power and wealth lose its value upon facing death.

In Spain Roman Catholic still being dominant portraying the king and the church as empty beings is indeed a bold way of expression. Perhaps the picture expresses a person who has achieved all power knowledge and wealth but the angel appears in his dream and letting him know that all of it is futile.

There is an old Chinese story of Laozis dream. Living a whole life which turned out to be a dream. Our lives may be futile but in there we can still find meaning and happiness. Antonio de Peredas Vanitas teaches humility to the arrogant and enchants positivity to the poor.

Website: : http://www.wip-news.com/news/articleView.html?idxno=7481