Oil paint on canvas
Tate Collection
Works with images
General Collection
Collection
<a href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/edward-collier-100" aria-label="More by Edward Collier" data-gtm-name="header_link_artist" data-gtm-destination="page--artist">Edward Collier</a>
Still Life with a Volume Withers Emblemes
Purchased 1949
abstract concepts
birth to death
birth to death
body
book, Withers, George, ‘Emblemes’
bowl
box
clothing and personal items
death - skull / skull and crossbones
drink, wine
fine arts and music
food and drink
fruit - non-specific
glass
goblet
instrument, lute
instrument, stringed
instrument, wind
jewellery
kitchen
material world - possessions
mortality
objects
people
reading, writing, printed matter
sheet music
silverware
skull
society
symbols and personifications
transience - hour glass
vessels and containers
<p>In this still-life painting the musical instruments, wine and jewels represent the fleeting pleasures of life, while the skull and hour-glass symbolise the inevitability of death. The open book shows a brief poem emphasising the theme of mortality. The Latin inscription in the top left corner comes from the Old Testament book of Ecclesiastes: ‘Vanity of vanities, all is vanity’. This is why such pictures are known as vanitas paintings. Born in the Netherlands, Collier arrived in England in 1693 to produce still-life paintings like this to sell to the English market. He died in London in 1708.</p><p><em>Gallery label, February 2016</em></p>
painting oil paint canvas
12 August 2002 – 23 October 2005
2005-10-23
12 August 2002 – 23 October 2005
2005-10-23
2002-08-12
Tate Modern (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/modern/
2002-08-12
Memento Mori
Collection based display
1 March 2007 – 25 February 2008
2008-02-25
1 March 2007
2007-03-01
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
2007-03-01
Migrant Artists
Collection based display
15 March 2008 – 15 March 2009
2009-03-15
15 March 2008 – 15 March 2009
2009-03-15
2008-03-15
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
2008-03-15
Court & Commerce
Collection based display
19 May 2012 – 3 October 2012
2012-10-03
19 May 2012 – 1 October 2012
2012-10-01
2012-05-19
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
2012-05-19
Dead Standing Things: Still Life 1660-1740
Collection based display
17 December 2012 – 24 July 2022
2022-07-24
17 December 2012
2012-12-17
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
2012-12-17
Gallery 92
Collection based display
Still Life with a Volume of Wither’s ‘Emblemes’
support: 838 × 1079 mm
frame: 1004 × 1242 × 70 mm
Purchased 1949
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<p>In this still-life painting the musical instruments, wine and jewels represent the fleeting pleasures of life, while the skull and hour-glass symbolise the inevitability of death. The open book shows a brief poem emphasising the theme of mortality. The Latin inscription in the top left corner comes from the Old Testament book of Ecclesiastes: ‘Vanity of vanities, all is vanity’. This is why such pictures are known as vanitas paintings. Born in the Netherlands, Collier arrived in England in 1693 to produce still-life paintings like this to sell to the English market. He died in London in 1708.</p>
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2016-02-23T00:00:00
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DISPLAY_CAPTION
abstract concepts birth to death birth to death body book, Withers, George, ‘Emblemes’ bowl box clothing and personal items death - skull / skull and crossbones drink, wine fine arts and music food and drink fruit - non-specific glass goblet instrument, lute instrument, stringed instrument, wind jewellery kitchen material world - possessions mortality objects people reading, writing, printed matter sheet music silverware skull society symbols and personifications transience - hour glass vessels and containers