Memento mori is
Latin for “remember death.” Death has accompanied mankind since am and Eve.
Memento Mori, not just specific to art is remembering that death comes to all
and wasting time in the vanities of the world is doing just that, Wasting! the
phrase is believed to originate from an ancient Roman tradition in which “...a
servant would be tasked with standing behind a victorious general as he paraded
through town. As the general basked in the glory of the cheering crowds, the
servant would Whisper in the general’s ear: “Respice post te! Hominem te esse memento! Memento mori!” “Look
behind you! Remember that you are but a man! Remember that you will die!” All
men know matter what walk of life you come from will inevitably die. Artists
would often depict this idea in their own paintings w implicitly or explicitly
depending on the message the artist wanted to portray. Most memento mori’s
contain a skull. The skull has long been recognized as a symbol of the
mortality of man. Medieval and Renaissance artists would use the skull to “call
attention to the vanity of earthly things or the passing of time...”
understanding death should not give us fear but an advantage over death.
Michael de Montaigne says “To begin depriving death
of its greatest advantage over us, let us adopt a way clean contrary to that
common one; let us deprive death of its strangeness, let us frequent it, let us
get used to it; let us have nothing more often in mind than death... We do not
know where death awaits us: so let us wait for it everywhere."
As
subdivisions of memento mori, vanitas and danse macambres (Dance of death) also
share the same ideals as memento mori. with an emphasis on the fleetingness and
insignificance of earthly glory and pleasure vanitas often include symbols such
as Skulls (certain death), bubbles (brevity, and fragility of life, smoke
hourglasses and watches (every minute closer to death), rotting fruit and
flowers (the decay of earthly things) musical instruments and
music sheets (representing lifes journey), and finally a tipped glass of wine (wine representing blood and the tipped
glass the precarious nature of human life). The purpose of vanitas and Danse
Macabre art is moral instruction, a reminder to not waste life on frivolous and
meaningless things. Danse Macabre is simply the happy dance of life that will
always end in death.
The Holy Trinity
Masaccio
1525 - 1427
Fresco
Church of Santa Maria Novella
Florence, Italy
Masaccio’s use of linear
perspective gives added insight to his painting of the Holy Trinity. The main
focus of the painting lies above the vantage point with God The Holy Ghost
(dove) and Christ as the main focus. Beneath the vantage point lies one
solitary object, a Cadaver tomb which consists of a sarcophagus on which lies a
skeleton. The sarcophagus lying below
the vantage point appears to jut out into real space (the viewer’s space)
making the symbol of death more personal in our minds. On the sarcophagus is
written “Lo fui gia quell che voi siete e quell chi o sono voi” (I once was
what you are and what I am you also will be) this memento mori helps establish
a lesson to the viewer. The Imagery must
represented to the faithful that, since they all would die, only their faith in
the Trinity and Christ’s sacrifice would allow them to overcome their
transitory
The Crucifixion
Left: Carlo Crivelli, Right: Fra Angelico
1487, 1442
 |
| Left: Tempera on Panel, 75 x 55.2 cm found in Medieval to Modern Eupropean Painting and Sculpture Gallery 204, Right: Fresco, 176 x 136 cm located in the Convento di San Marco in Florence, Italy |
“...and he went out, bearing his own cross,
to the place called The Place of a Skull, which in Aramaic is called Golgotha.”
(john 19:7) According to the Catholic Encyclopedia, tradition is held that
Adam’s final resting place was on the hill of Golgotha. While still following
suit of a normal memento mori the addition of the skull at the base of the
cross adds another layer of symbolism. Christ has been understood in the
Scriptures to be a “second Adam” (Romans 5:14-15; 1 Cor. 15:47) who would not
succomb to sin. Through Adam, Sin and death was extended to all mankind, but
through Christ, Life and purification was granted to all who believe in him.
Often in paintings the skull has been uncovered to show that Christ brought
redemption from the original sin caused by Adam. The blood of Christ is often
dripping on the skull of adam as a symbol of that redemption. it can be said of
the 2 deaths that first death, Adam’s, brought spiritual death and the second
death, Christ’s, saved us from Adam’s death.
Vanitas Still Life
Jacques de Gheyn the Elder
1598
Oil on Wood 82.6 x 54 cm
New York: the Metropolitan Museum of Art
Vanitas still life” has been
recognized as one of the earliest known vanitas in European painting. In this
particular painting Jacques compares human existence to a bubble, cut flowers,
smoke and other reminders of life’s brevity. Further symbolism is represented
from objects floating in the bubble, such as the wheel of torture; a lepers
rattle a broken glass and a flaming heart.
Fame and Wealth also share this fate, the Spanish coins which contain
the laughing and weeping philosophers Democritus and Heraclitus, reflect on the
vanity of human life. Money, being one of the most prominent objects of this
painting, most likely represents the foolishness of “laying up your treasures
where moth and dust doth corrupt.” (Mat. 6:19)
The Dance of Death
Michael Wolgemut
1493
Print Form
Liber Chronicarum by Hartman Schedel
No matter which stroke of life you
come from the “Dance of Death” unites us all. steaming from the traditions
finding roots in the time period of the black plague (1348-1350). The Black
Plague, due to its devastating effects, left everyone with the idea that nobody
could escape death. none rich or poor could elude death. Often in paintings
such as the dance of death would typically depict a pope, emperor, king, child,
and laborer all dancing or playing music in a joyous gathering. These paintings
along with other mementos mori were produced to remind people of the fragility
of the lives and how vain were the glories of earthly life.
a video of Johny Cash showing symbols of Vanitas.
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