Vanitas: Allegory of the Vanities of Human Life, Amsterdam, 2011
Digital holographic stereogram, Artists: Erik Swetter/ 3D-Hologrammen & Tijn van Heerden / HologramStudio
Computer generated imagery (Autodesk 3D-Max) printed by Geola Digital
Hologram size : 32 cm x 24 cm, Hologram is matted,
comes mounted in passepartout and aluminium frame sized 30 cm x 40 cm
Included in the permanent collections of: The MIT-Museum, Jonathan Ross Collection & the Hellenistic Insitute of Holography.
Check: https://webmuseum.mit.edu/detail.php?module=objects&type=related&kv=161193
Vanitas: Allegory of the Vanities of Human Life
Vanitas is a category of symbolic works of art, especially those associated with the still life paintings of the 16th and 17th centuries in Flanders and the Netherlands, Vanitas is the Latin for Vanity, in the sense of emptiness or a worthless action. Paintings executed in the vanitas style were meant to remind viewers of the transience of life, the futility of pleasure, and the certainty of death.In this hologram objects which suggest human achievements like the book and violin, are related to reminders of mortality: the candle which has been snuffed out, rotten fruit, which symbolises decay; bubbles, which symbolise the suddenness of death; smoke and hourglasses, which symbolise the brevity of life, and musical instruments, which symbolise the ephemeral nature of life. The rare Roemer glass and the nautilus shell symbolise wealth. The candle and the hourglass also allude to the transience of life, and all the objects are dominated by the skull, a reminder of the certainty of death: the great leveller, which puts an end to all worldly achievements. 'Vanity of Vanities, all is vanity' (Ecclesiastes 12:8). The implication of these words is that all human action is transient in contrast to the everlasting nature of faith.