vanitas

top: Vanitas, Aelbert Jansz van der Schoor
bottom: unknown

Vanitas: genre of painting popular in the 16th and 17th centuries; served as a memento mori to viewers. Reflection on the transience of life and the inevitability of decay was meant to be evoked through the obvious use of skulls but also in the inclusion of symbols like the hourglass, burning candle, fruit and flowers, meat, and other ephemeral items.

On a fashion note, I think the bottom painting could be turned into a lovely print to be used in lieu of spring florals.

source: Rijksmuseum, myspace

judith and holofernes

If for no other reason, this painting is great because of the gloves. But mostly it's amazing because Lucas Cranach was absurdly talented. Sigh.

the arnolfini wedding

Jan van Eyck, 1434

I can't stop thinking about this painting. I've seen it before - at the National Gallery in London - but for some reason it's sticking in my mind now. It doesn't have anything to do with fashion, my interest in this, although the bright green of her dress - in real life anyway - is mesmerizingly vibrant. It's just a really beautiful, apparently haunting image.

alteschinken

Detial from Jan Vermeer's The Art of Painting. I love the slits cut into the back of his ... coat? Fashion inspiration from Old Masters (Or as they're known in German: Alte Schinken aka Old Bacon. P.S. I know he's Dutch.) how pretentious.