page_title: Cornelis van der Meulen
section_title: Vanitas still lifes
hierarchical_section_title: Cornelis van der Meulen / Work / Vanitas still lifes
context_page_description: Cornelis van der Meulen or Cornelis Vermeulen, was a Dutch painter who after training in the Dutch Republic had a career in Sweden where he became a court painter. He is known for still lifes of flowers and game, trompe-l'oeil and vanitas still lifes, topographical views and portraits.
context_section_description: Many of van der Meulen are vanitas still lifes, a type of still lifes which evokes the meaninglessness of worldly aspirations and the transient nature of all human endeavors.  This vanitas motif drew its inspiration from the Christian view that the world is solely a temporary place of fleeting pleasures and sorrows from which humans' sole escape route is through the sacrifice and resurrection of Jesus. This meaning is conveyed in these still lifes through the use of stock symbols, which reference the transience of things and, in particular, the futility of earthly wealth: a skull, soap bubbles, candles, empty glasses, wilting flowers, insects, smoke, watches, mirrors, books, hourglasses and musical instruments, various expensive or exclusive objects such as jewellery and rare shells.  The term vanitas is derived from the famous line 'Vanitas, Vanitas. Et omnia Vanitas', in the book of the Ecclesiastes in the bible, which in the King James Version is translated as "Vanity of vanities, all is vanity".  While most of these symbols reference the transience of life and death (soap bubbles, candles, skulls) and human pursuits (scientific instruments, music, books, etc.), some carry a dual meaning: a rose refers as much to the brevity of living things as it is a symbol of the resurrection of Christ and thus eternal life. 
  A typical vanitas still life by van der Meulen is the Vanitas still life with a skull, a guttering candle, a tortoiseshell mirror, a book, a statuette of saint Susanna, and a pack of cards (Sotheby's sale of 10 May 2019, London, lot 287). It contains many of the typical symbols of vanitas paintings.  The statue of Saint Susanna, a Christian martyr, symbolises the Christian conviction that it is possible to find salvation in death through the force of a steadfast faith in Christ's.  He also painted some vanitas still lifes with musical instruments which bring to mind the Northern Italian instrument painting in the circle around Evaristo Baschenis.
  Two extraordinary vanitas still lifes are the portraits of Ulrik and Gustav both princes of Sweden and sons of King Karl XI, who had died as toddlers.  The portraits of the two princes are in the form of bust sculptures, which were derived from the posthumous marble portrait busts of the princes made by the Flemish sculptor Nicolaes Millich. Millich had made the busts for the princes' grandmother, the queen dowager Hedwig Eleonora of Holstein-Gottorp.  The queen dowager appreciated these sculpted portrait busts of her deceased grandsons Gustav and Ulrik. Van der Meulen incorporated them using a trompe l'oeil effect into the two vanitas still life paintings which were then hung in their grandmother's prayer room. Van der Meulen has added vanitas symbols to the bust portraits (books, a skull with laurel leaves, a seashell, a broken rose and a soap bubble). The busts of the princes also resemble Roman busts of child emperors and thus refer back to the royal lineage and authority of the children. This is further emphasized in the portrait of Gustav which has a Swedish flag with the royal crowns as its backdrop.
  The contemporary fame of van der Meulen as a vanitas painter seems to be confirmed by the fact that the Delft painter Johannes Vermeer is believed to have used a vanitas still life with a violin by van der Meulen's hand in the background of his A Lady Writing a Letter.
caption: View of Stockholm
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