School of Edwart Collier (c. 1640-1710?)Vanitas with Skull Still Life.Oil on wood panel. Striking and evocative Vanitas Still Life painting in period frame.15 x 22 cm (Frame: 18.5 x 26.5cm.The Dutch Golden Age, roughly spanning the 17th century, was a period of remarkable prosperity and artistic output for the Netherlands. It came about thanks largely to the explosion of wealth from trade that began at the end of the 16th century, as the Dutch provinces became independent from the Spanish Empire. This resulted in the creation of a large, wealthy middle class and meant that buying art was no longer the preserve of just kings, queens, and religious orders. Vanitas, a sub-genre of still-life painting, became popular during this period. The genre is closely associated with a cultural phenomenon present in Early Modern Europe known as Momento Mori (Latin for ‘remember you must die’). Vanitas paintings are highly detailed and populated by symbolic imagery, inviting the viewer to study the image. The most common motifs found in Vanitas paintings are representations of wealth: gold, purses, and jewellery; representations of knowledge: books, spyglass, maps, and quills; representations of pleasure: food, wine glasses, and fabrics; and finally, representations evoking death: skulls, wilting flowers, candles, and hourglasses. The present picture, painted by a follower of Collier, is a wonderful example of a conventional vanitas still life. The arrangement includes several items associated with the vanitas tradition – a skull, an hourglass, and a burnt-out candle stump – all intended to highlight the transience of time and the inevitability of death, regardless of wealth and status. The small scale suggests the painting was intended for private contemplation. Except for isolated patches of local colour, the palette is quite restrained, perhaps in respect of the sober tone of the subject. Little is known about the enigmatic Dutch Golden Age still-life painter Collier, who was known for his vanitas and trompe l’oeil paintings. He was born in Breda, but the precise year of his birth is unknown. His earliest known work is dated to 1662. We know that Collier entered the St Luke’s Guild in Leiden in 1673, at which time he was also a member of the guild in Haarlem. Between 1670 and 1681 he was married at least three times in Leiden. Records indicated that he was living in Amsterdam in 1686. He signed himself ‘Edwaert Colyer’ in his Dutch works but later anglicised his name to Edward Collier. Many of Collier’s vanitas and trompe l’oeil paintings include English texts and objects and seem to have been painted for the English market, which was common amongst Dutch’s artists working in The Netherlands at the time. However, several paintings dated to the years 1695-8 bear inscriptions describing him as a ‘Painter at London’ which would suggest that he spent some time there. Although many authorities give his death as before 1702, ...