CORNELIS NORBERTUS GYSBRECHTS | VANITAS STILL LIFE WITH A SKULL, SHEET MUSIC, VIOLIN, GLOBE, CANDLE, HOURGLASS AND PLAYING CARDS, ALL ON A DRAPED TABLE

Arrangements such as this provide the viewer not only with the opportunity to reflect on the themes of the brevity of life and the vanity of worldly concerns, but also to wonder at the artist’s skill in depicting a variety of textures and surfaces, and the realistic effects of light on these objects.

Gysbrechts was well-travelled. Born in Antwerp, he worked in Belgium, Germany, Denmark and Sweden. This painting was probably executed in Germany, where it is known that Gysbrechts was in the early 1660s. Later that decade, particularly when he had moved to Denmark and was in the service of Kings Frederik III and Christian V at Rosenborg Castle, Gysbrechts abandoned pure vanitas still life paintings, such as this one, to incorporate the same themes into ever more complex trompe l’œil compositions.