The Transience of Life in Vanitas Artwork

Vanitas works flourished in the Netherlands during the 17th century, or what is otherwise called the “Northern Baroque” period. The majority of vanitas works generated from the Baroque period mirrored the traditional vanitas paintings from the Renaissance. These artworks presented a theme of mortality and the transience of life with the depiction of objects that symbolize this message. Flowers, fruits, and other perishables were often paired with skulls and timepieces to communicate the message that life is fragile and finite. There was however, a movement from the traditional vanitas ideals. Whether he knew it or not, Ruysch set new boundaries of what a vanitas masterpiece could be.

Frederick Ruysch (1638-1731) was the greatest anatomist of his time. He was a highly accomplished individual in the realm of science and probably never thought of his work as art. However, we can say he was an artist in his own right. He was influenced by the anatomical artworks of Renaissance scientists such as Andreas Vesalius and Étienne de la Rivière. These two men contributed to the leap of interest in human anatomy by studying cadavers and making diagrams such as Étienne de la Rivieère’s woodcut La dissection des parties du corps humain, 1546 (Fig 1).[1] Unlike most scientists, Rivière not only studied the human body but illustrated his findings and others findings. As an artist and a scientist, he was highly influential in Ruysch’s case.

Figure 1

Ruysch often wrote about his “art” of preservation. A major innovation of his was the creation of a fixative solution called liquor balsamicus (composed on Nantic brandy and black pepper) in which bodies could be preserved and studied for extended periods of time.[2] This was important to the medical field, as before this solution came out, it was only possible to study anatomy in the winter, due to the perishable nature of tissue.[3] This solution was in fact, so incredibly effective that the items Ruysch preserved for his own collection remain today. Before submersion, Ruysch injected red wax into even the smallest capillaries of his specimens using a syringe invented by Renier de Graaf.[4] The wax gave the specimens a lively glow, as if the blood was still rushing through them.[5] With the discovery of this handy preserving method near the end of the 17th century, Ruysch focused increasingly on the artful presentation of his specimens.

When visiting Ruysch in Amsterdam in 1697, tsar Peter the Great was so enthralled that he bought the whole collection; fetuses, skeletons, body parts, insects and all for 30.000 guilders. The collection remains for all to see at the Kunstkamera Museum in St. Petersburg and has not changed for three centuries. Ruysch’s collection allowed the public to see what was normally invisible to those who weren’t scientists and created an interest in human anatomy and was therefore quite popular. The artistic ways that Ruysch set his specimens up also added visual interest and provoked the audience to think of themes projected by vanitas works at the time.

Despite the fact that he did not illustrate his own work and rather paid artists such as Cornelius Huyberts and Jan Mulder to, Ruysch was a bona fide “artist of death.” What distinguishes him from other scientists of the time and from the scientists that influenced him was his capability to present his research with an artistic aesthetic. As one entered Ruysch's museum, they would be welcomed by a tomb containing skeletal remains. Among the remains was the skull of a newborn baby with a sign that read, “no head, however strong, escapes cruel death.”[6] Nearby was a skeleton of a young boy holding the skeleton of a parrot, which had been propped there to share the message that “time flies.”[7]

Ruysch often experimented with the positioning of skeletons of young children and newborns. He preserved flowers, which are a common vanitas symbol of the fragility of life, and put them in the hands of these skeletons. He also built about a dozen scenes in which he placed skeletons on piles of gallstones and kidney stones (Fig 2.).

These were accompanied by “botanical” backgrounds of major arteries and blood vessels that had been stiffened from wax injections that he considered to be “trees.” Smaller blood vessels and lung tissue served in the place of bushes and grass, and 'snakes' and 'worms,' which were made of intestines, served as vanitas symbols of corruption (Gould). Each of these geological presentations was in its own right, a vanitas masterpiece, as was the whole collection of specimens.

Ascending each mountain of gallstones and kidney stones were several skeletons, each with a different position and expression of its own. They were evidently the symbols of death and short life, as they were child skeletons. They held adult mayflies, which only live but a day and wept into 'handkerchiefs' composed of carefully preserved pieces of peritoneum.[8] The handkerchief, with all its delicate blood vessels that resembled embroidery “reminded Ruysch of psalm 139, which describes how the omnipotent Creator had made the human body as a piece of divine embroidery.”[9] Some skeletons also held their hands up to their heads in emotion, as if to express the mourning of lives that have ended. (Fig 3.).

The beautiful collection provoked the onlooker to consider anatomical knowledge, the power of the Creator, the value of life on earth and their inevitable fate, just as traditional vanitas works did. Underneath each composition of specimens and remains was a quotation or moral persuasion, such as “Ah, fate. Ah, bitter fate.”[10]

By studying the collection of Frederik Ruysch thoroughly, it is clear that he was an artist in his own right. Since he was an astonishing scientist of his time who made significant contributions to the medicine and science, his artistry was easily overlooked. The arrangement and treatment of his specimens communicated the traditional messages of vanitas works. Being primarily constructed of specimens and his anatomical understanding, his work sheds light on a new definition of Baroque vanitas works.

Works Cited

[1] “Dream Anatomy: Gallery: Charles Estienne: La Dissection Des Parties Du Corps Humain...”U.S. National Library of Medicine, National Institutes of Health, 16 Nov. 2015, www.nlm.nih.gov/exhibition/dreamanatomy/da_g_I-A-3-03.html. [2] J. Hansen, Resurrecting Death: Anatomical Art in the Cabinet of Dr. Frederik Ruysch (1996) pg. 669 [3] Bernardo L.C. Precht, Eduardo B. Fontes, Marcio A. Babinski, Raphael C. de Paula, Frederik Ruysch (1638-1731): Life and Lessons from a Memorable Anatomist (2014). [4] J. Hansen, Resurrecting Death: Anatomical Art in the Cabinet of Dr. Frederik Ruysch (1996) pg. 669 [5] Roemer, Bert van de. “Decorations in Frederik Ruysch's Collection .” The Anatomical Preparations of Frederik Ruysch , ruysch.dpc.uba.uva.nl/cgi/t/text/text-idx?page=ruysch-versieringen;c=ruysch;cc=ruysch;lang=en. [6] Kooijmans, “Frederik Ruysch: The Artist of Death.” The Public Domain Review, publicdomainreview.org/2014/03/05/frederik-ruysch-the-artist-of-death/. [7] Gould , Stephen Jay. Finders, Keepers: Treasures and Oddities of Natural History. 1994. [8] Gould , Stephen Jay. Finders, Keepers: Treasures and Oddities of Natural History. 1994. [9] Roemer, Bert van de. “Decorations in Frederik Ruysch's Collection .” The Anatomical Preparations of Frederik Ruysch , ruysch.dpc.uba.uva.nl/cgi/t/text/text-idx?page=ruysch-versieringen;c=ruysch;cc=ruysch;lang=en. [10] Gould , Stephen Jay. Finders, Keepers: Treasures and Oddities of Natural History. 1994.