Antique Signed 19th Century Oil on Canvas "Vanitas", Gilt Wood Framed

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This antique oil on canvas still is a variation of traditional Vanitas paintings, which started in the Netherlands in the … Read more This antique oil on canvas still is a variation of traditional Vanitas paintings, which started in the Netherlands in the early 17th century.

In these almost photo realistic paintings, sumptuous arrangements of fruit and flowers, or lavish banquet tables with fine silver and crystal, were accompanied by symbolic reminders of life's impermanence.

A scull, an hourglass or pocket watch, for example, would serve as a moralizing message on the ephemerality of sensory pleasures.

This painting is a German interpretation of the genre from the late 19th century. With much faster and more expressive brushwork than the Dutch masters, we can see a similar arrangement of symbols, including a German book or calendar listing the seasons of a year. The sombre atmosphere of this genre was popular in Germany in the Romanticism era of the late 18th century.

Signed T. O'Reilly and inscribed 'St Paul'.

Measures: Painting dimensions: 26" W, 35" H,

Overall with frame: 33" W, 42" H.

Condition is excellent; with an old repair on back of canvas. The framed is a gold gilt wood with minor losses. See less