A dead squirrel on the side of the road. Driving by a cemetery on your way to work. Seeing the death of a beloved celebrity on the news. Loss of a friend or loved one...
The sureness of our mortality is something we face on a day-to-day basis. During the medieval period, the concept of memento mori (latin for "remember that you [have to] die) gained popularity among philosophers of classical antiquity, like Plato, who famously stated that philosophy is about "nothing but being dead and dying".
In Christianity, memento mori kept ideas of heaven and hell alive, perhaps influencing its followers to remain devout to their faith for reassurance that they would see heavens gates when their time comes.
For others, memento mori can be a reminder to enjoy life and its pleasures, no matter how small, knowing that at any moment it could end. The fleeting nature of life and time is seen in another phrase "tempus/hora fugit", translating to "time flees", which accompanies memento mori.
Art involving these sentiments consists of images of skulls (sometimes accompanied with wings), bones, coffins, extinguished candles, the grim reaper/scythe, and the hour glass (also sometimes seen with wings).
It seems a rather depressing idea to surround ourselves with images and phrases of death, but keep in mind that this was a time where death due to illness and disease was rampant, and the after-effects and fears from previous plagues lingered. Images of memento mori were, unsurprisingly, popular in funerary art and cemeteries where the subject matter is most fitting, but it was also present in other public spaces. Architecture in cities would sometimes feature motifs of skulls and reapers. Public clocks engraved with hora fugit reminded passers by that time counted down to their inevitable death. The idea of memento mori and hora fugit kept the reality of our demise in check, and reminded the public to live life to its fullest.
The headstone of Joseph Tapping is a famous example of classic memento mori headstone art as seen in New England. At the top you will see a skull with wings on each side and an hourglass atop its head; a very common depiction of how fleeting life is, and something that you will see on many headstones from this time period. There are also inscriptions of fugit hora, memento mori, and below is a skeleton (death) who attempts to snuff a lit candle, with what appears to be Father Time trying to stop death from doing so, holding his skeletal arm back.
Artwork of this macabre nature was embraced in many facets of daily life, including what we were wearing. Throughout the 16th and 17th centuries, memento mori jewelry in the form of mourning rings, lockets, pendants and brooches depicting death-related imagery and messages gained more popularity with the help of some famous figures. Mary, Queen of Scots had a particularly large silver watch in the shape of a skull which she gave to Mary Seaton while she was on her way to her execution. This piece (pictured below) was engraved with the lines of Horace: "Pale death knocks with the same tempo upon the huts of the poor and the towers of Kings" bringing a level of equality to both the rich and the poor, as death comes for us all regardless of our wealth or status.
During this same time, another artistic genre arose known as vanitas, Latin for "emptiness" or "vanity". Vanitas were most commonly still-life oil paintings featuring imagery seen in memento mori art: skulls, the hour glass, and other classic symbols of death. But in vanitas, these symbols were accompanied by imagery signifying the transience of life (wilting flowers, bubbles, and delicate butterflies), power and wealth (purses, money/gold, and jewelry), earthly pleasures (pipes, goblets, wine, and playing cards) and symbols of the arts and science (maps/globes, books, and musical instruments). Images of resurrection could also sometimes be seen in these still-life's, usually consisting of sprigs of ivy or laurel, or ears of corn.
These elements come together to convey the impermanence of human endeavors, our pointless desires for power and glory, and that all things will decay with time. The resulting subject matter is beautifully haunting, full of both light and dark; the beauty and joys of life and the inevitability of death.
For more information on this topic, you can check out these sources below which I used for this blog post:
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