Vanitas Still Life with a Skeleton
Carstian LuyckxFine art reproduction on 200gsm matte paper. A5 to A2, plus 12x16 and 18x24 inches.Death has taken a seat among the treasures. He holds a sheet of parchment and waits for you to read it.
Carstian Luyckx was a Flemish still life painter, baptised in Antwerp in 1623, who later worked in what is now northern France. This painting, catalogued in full as A Vanitas Still Life with Musical Instruments, Sheet Music, Books, a Skeleton, Skulls, and Armor, gathers every earthly prize in one place: a crown, a suit of armour, a royal banner, a lute, a violin and open books. A vanitas is a still life which reminds us that wealth, power and pleasure all pass. Here Death sits among them.
Look closely at the hourglass beside the skulls and the Latin lines carved into the pedestal. For years paintings like this were credited to the French painter Simon Renard de Saint-André, until scholars returned them to Luyckx. This canvas spent decades in a Swiss private collection. In 2018 it sold in Zurich for more than ten times its estimate. It now hangs in the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, in the collection of the Sarah Campbell Blaffer Foundation.
The look
Blood red velvet, royal blue silk and the old ivory of bone against dark stone. Rich, solemn and endlessly detailed. Memento mori wall art for a study, a home library or a gothic hallway, and gothic home decor with a message.
Sizes
| Size | Centimetres | Inches |
|---|---|---|
| A5 | 14.8 x 21 cm | 5.8 x 8.3 in |
| A4 | 21 x 29.7 cm | 8.3 x 11.7 in |
| A3 | 29.7 x 42 cm | 11.7 x 16.5 in |
| A2 | 42 x 59.4 cm | 16.5 x 23.4 in |
| 12 x 16 in | 30.5 x 40.6 cm | 12 x 16 in |
| 18 x 24 in | 45.7 x 61 cm | 18 x 24 in |
This painting stops at A2. Above that size the original photograph loses the fine detail of the brushwork, so the shop does not offer it.
Custom sizes on request. Inch sizes have a slightly different shape from A sizes, so the edges trim a little. Size guide
Frames and delivery
Choose a black, white or oak frame, or order the print unframed. It is printed locally in the UK, Europe, the US, Canada or Australia, at the location closest to you. Free tracked shipping, no customs fees. Printing and delivery
Gifting
A thoughtful gift for a birthday, a graduation or a new home library. A painting which reminds us to make the most of our time.
More like this
More memento mori in our Gothic Memento Mori Art collection: Allegory of Death by Tomás Mondragón and Death and Life Contrasted after Robert Dighton. For another still life with a warning, see Flowers and a Watch by Abraham Mignon.
