The Vanitas
Engraver unknown, c. 1650
$140
Print check at 12 x 16 in: 151 dpi, good. Trimmed 3% to the shape of the print.
Shipping to a US address: $24.80 for this piece, from the print room in Charlotte, North Carolina.
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A skull set among a guttering candle, a book, and a few scattered flowers — the vanitas, the still-life sermon of the seventeenth century, its every object a reminder that learning, beauty, and life itself run out. The word comes from Ecclesiastes: vanitas vanitatum, 'vanity of vanities, all is vanity.' Printed and painted across the Dutch and Flemish seventeenth century, the vanitas made an art of the memento mori, arranging the emblems of mortality into something almost sumptuous. Here is the type in an engraved plate: the skull at the centre, the candle nearly spent. A picture built, with great care, to make you feel the passing of the time you spend looking at it.
- Maker
- Engraver unknown
- Date
- c. 1650
- Medium of the original
- Engraving
- Original held by
- Vanitas emblem, 17th c. · scan: Wikimedia Commons
- Credit
- Vanitas emblem, 17th c. · scan: Wikimedia Commons
- Rights
- Public domain, verified
- Catalogue number
- PA-00484
| Picture | 12 x 16 in |
|---|---|
| Outside size | 13.6 x 17.6 in |
| Depth | 0.9 in (22 mm) |
| Weight | [[REAL PROOF NEEDED: shipped weight per size and frame]] |
| Hanging | [[REAL PROOF NEEDED: hanging hardware Prodigi fits to this frame]] |
| Material | Enhanced matte art paper, 200 gsm; acrylic glazing |
| Made in | Charlotte, North Carolina, by Prodigi |
Before a size goes on sale, the file is measured against it: pixels per inch at that size, how much of the picture a crop would lose, tone and sharpness. A size that fails is not offered, so there is nothing to choose wrong.
| Size | dpi | Grade | How it fits |
|---|---|---|---|
| 8 x 10 in | 227 | Excellent | Trimmed 9.1% |
| 8 x 12 in | 208 | Excellent | Trimmed 8.3% |
| 11 x 14 in | 165 | Good | Trimmed 7.4% |
| 12 x 16 in | 151 | Good | Trimmed 3% |
| Size | Why |
|---|---|
| 12 x 18 in | 138 dpi; a historical scan is never enlarged |
| 16 x 20 in | 113 dpi; a historical scan is never enlarged |
| 16 x 24 in | 104 dpi; a historical scan is never enlarged |
| 18 x 24 in | 101 dpi; a historical scan is never enlarged |
| 20 x 30 in | 83 dpi; a historical scan is never enlarged |
| 24 x 30 in | 75 dpi; a historical scan is never enlarged |
| 24 x 36 in | 69 dpi; a historical scan is never enlarged |
| 30 x 40 in | 60 dpi; a historical scan is never enlarged |
| 36 x 48 in | 50 dpi; a historical scan is never enlarged |
| 40 x 60 in | 41 dpi; a historical scan is never enlarged |
- Scanned
- 2026-10-07
- Master file
- 1,818 x 2,500 px, srgb
- Tone
- Darks 76, lights 229 of 255; 0% clipped light, 0% clipped dark
- Colour
- 0% vivid
- Sharpness
- 161.98
- Notes
- Neutrals lean warm (yellow): the paper and varnish of the original, kept as scanned
Shipping for this piece to a US address is $24.80, the print room’s own rate, charged per piece. Checkout shows the total before you pay.
Every piece is printed after you order it, in Charlotte, North Carolina, and ships from there. For now we ship to US addresses only.
A piece that arrives damaged, misprinted or in the wrong size is replaced at our cost. The details: shipping and returns and replacements.
The Hermetica
The esoteric tradition’s emblems, astrological figures and the old charts of palmistry and phrenology.
All 58 pieces from The Hermetica
