vanitas

(Latin: “emptiness”). An allegorical  work in which the themes are the transitory nature of earthly pleasure and the inevitability of death and judgment. Pronunciation here. Web resource here.

Screen Shot 2016-12-18 at 12.08.48 PMMaria van Oosterwijck. Vanitas Still LifeOil on canvas. 1668.  Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna, Austria.