Democritus Meditating

1654

Johann Heinrich Schönfeld

Associated Names
Johann Heinrich Schönfeld

Artist, German, 1609 - c. 1682

This is a drawing of a skeletal figure in a sarcophagus with the inscription "VANITAS ET STRVA." The image contains a skeleton lying within a sarcophagus or open coffin, along with symbols of vanity and mortality like a skull and a broken urn. To the right, a goat is next to scattered book pages. In the background are a stone wall and trees. This scene is common in vanitas art, reflecting on the fleeting nature of life and possessions.

Media Options

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Artwork overview

  • Medium

    etching on laid paper

  • Credit Line

    Ailsa Mellon Bruce Fund

  • Dimensions

    sheet (cut to platemark): 16.1 x 13.1 cm (6 5/16 x 5 3/16 in.)

  • Accession Number

    2003.15.2

  • Catalogue Raisonné

    Hollstein, no. 17

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

Professor Grober, Jena (not in Lugt). Dr. W. Lippisch, Munich (not in Lugt). (Kunsthandlung Helmut H. Rumbler, Frankfurt am Main); purchased 2003 by NGA.

Associated Names

Bibliography

1949

  • Hollstein, F.W.H. et al. German engravings, etchings and woodcuts ca. 1400-1700. 8 vols. Amsterdam: Menno Hertzberger, 1954-1868.

Inscriptions

in image, lower left: VANITAS ET...; lower left in plate: JH (in monogram) Schönfeld Fecit 1654; by later hand, center verso in graphite: Johann Heinr. Schönfeld / 1609 - 1675 / A. 4. (not deciphered)

Wikidata ID

Q76346159

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