ANTONIO DE PEREDA, 1632-6

Little is known about the life of Antonio de Pereda, asides from the fact that he was born into a family of artists and was trained in Madrid under the illustrious Pedro de las Cuevas, who taught some of the most distinguished painters of the period. Despite a relatively sparse documented history, Pereda is an important figure in the development of Spanish art, having introduced the meaning and motifs of the vanitas genre to Spain with his painting Allegory of Vanity.

The vanitas genre had long been popular in Northern Europe, and takes its name from the opening lines of the Book of Ecclesiastes in the Bible that proclaimed ‘vanity of vanities, all is vanity.’ Building on the message of these lines, the genre served to warn that life was fleeting, and that it was futile to pursue material desires over matters of the spirit.

Many of the key symbols of the genre feature in Allegory of Vanity. Motifs of human wealth and power – like the portraits, coins, and finery to the right of the composition – serve to represent the ephemerality of these accomplishments. On the left, an extinguished candle flame, hourglass, and skulls convey a memento mori message, reminding the viewer that everything must come to an end, reiterated by the Latin inscription ‘nil omne’ which translates to ‘all is nothing.’

At the centre is a winged Genius, a divinity from Roman religion who was thought to follow each man through life from birth to death. It holds a cameo portrait of Emperor Charles V and points to a globe, referring to the great power of the House of Habsburg on the world stage at this time. Allegory of Vanity is thought to be a courtly commission because of this detail, but if so it is an unusual one, as although it makes a flattering comparison between Charles V and Augustus Caesar, its final message remains that his greatness will inevitably pass, and that material wealth means nothing in death.