Allegory of Vanity | Antonio de Pereda | 1634 Size:20"x16" Through vivid brushwork and dramatic

Through vivid brushwork and dramatic contrast

the painting captures the classic beauty of this ancient architecture

unsettling vision: a skeleton

her whitened form glowing faintly against the surrounding darkness

corners and alleyways in the city of Prague – often in the early evening light

Allegory of Vanity | Antonio de Pereda | 1634 Size:20"x16" Through vivid brushwork and dramaticThe Vanitas pictures emerged beginning with the late years of the 15th century. These pictures have a symbolic meaning, as most old paintings in art history: they are a representation of Vanity and also Vainglory (unjustified boasting). It describes through the visual language the meaningless in the efforts of gathering valuable material objects, earthly goods and pursuits and the ephemerality of earthly pleasures: in the middle of the richly depicted