Allegory of Vanity

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Allegory of Vanity

Artist Jan Miense Molenaer Dutch, ca. 1610-1668

Date1633

Dimensions40 1/4 x 50 in. (102 x 127 cm)

Mediumoil on canvas

ClassificationPaintings

Credit LinePurchased with funds from the Libbey Endowment, Gift of Edward Drummond Libbey

Object number

1975.21

On View

Toledo Museum of Art (2445 Monroe Street), Gallery, 23

Collections

Paintings

Published ReferencesWinternitz, E., "Music for the Eye," Art News, vol. 45, June 1946, p. 27.

Praz, M., An Illustrated History of Furnishing, New York, 1964, p. 128 fig. 93.

de Jongh, E., "Homo Bulla on Vrouw Wereld; allegorische figuren in geeigende en camouflerende dracht," Vrij Nederland, Aug. 1, 1970, p. 7.

de Jongh, E., "Realisme et schijn Realisme in de Hollandse Schilderkunst van de zeventiende eeuw," in Brussels, Musees Royaux d'Art et dHistoire, Rembrandt en zijn tijd, 1971, pp. 181-183, fig. 19.

de Jongh, E., "Vermommingen van Vrouw Wereld in de 17 de Eeuw," Album Amicorum J. G. van Gelder, The Hague, 1973, p. 202, fig. 7.

"La Chronique des Arts," Gazette des Beaux-Arts, vol. 87, no. 1286, March 1976, repr. p. 39.

"Treasures for Toledo," Toledo Museum of Art, vol. 19, nos. 2 & 3, 1976, repr. p. 63.

The Toledo Museum of Art, The Toledo Museum of Art, European Paintings, Toledo, 1976, p. 113, pl. 108.

Tot Lering en Vermaak, Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum, 1976, pp. 16, 18, 177-179, repr. (col.) p. 176, p. 19.

Brown, Christopher, " 'Tot Lering en Vermaak' at Amsterdam," Burlington Magazine, vol. 119, no. 886, Jan. 1977, p. 62.

Mirmonde, A.P. de, "Les vanites a personnages et a instruments de musique," Gazette des Beaux-Arts, vol. 92, no. 1317, Oct. 1978, p. 125, repr. fig. 16, p. 126.

Gorney, Michaelene, "Musical Instruments: Strings," Toledo Museum of Art Museum News, vol. 20, no. 4, 1978, pp. 94, 96, 99, 101, 116, repr. fig. 5.

Blankert, Albert, "General Introduction," Gods, Saints and Heroes, Washington, 1980, p. 19, repr. fig. 4.

Gaskell, Ivan, "Art for the Oligarchs," Art History, vol. 6, no. 2, June 1983, p. 237-238.

Wheelock, Arthur K., "Northern Baroque," Encyclopedia of World Art: Supplement, vol. 16, New York, 1983, p. 199, repr. fig. 221.

Liedtke, Walter A., "Dutch Genre Painting in Philadelphia, Berlin, and London," Tableau, vol. 7, no. 1, Sept. 1984, repr. p. 64.

Masters of Seventeenth-Century Dutch Genre Painting, Philadelphia Museum of Art; Berlin (West), Gemaldegalerie; London, Royal Academy of Arts; 1984, pp. 262, 263, 265, repr. (col.) pl. 20.

Schnell, Werner, "Ausstellungen...von Frans Hals bis Vermeer..." (review), Pantheon, vol. 42, no. 4, Oct/Nov/Dec, 1984, p. 373.

Schama, Simon, The Embarrassment of Riches, New York, 1987, fig. 259, p. 513.

Great Dutch Paintings from America, The Hague, 1990, p. 106.

Emmer, Michele, Bolle di sapone: un viaggio tra arte, scienza e fantasia, Florence, 1991, p. 29, fig. 18, (col.) 19 (detail, col.).

Jongh, E., de, "Some Notes on Interpretation," in Feedberg, David, ed., Art in History / History in Art, Santa Monica, 1991, p. 130, fig. 7, p. 131.

Chaney, Liana DeGirolami, ed., The Symbolism of Vanitas in the Arts, Literature and Music, Lewiston, NY, 1992, pp. 128, 129, fig. 28.

Peacock, Marth Moffitt, "Geertruydt Roghman and the Female Perspective in 17th Century Dutch Genre Imagery," Womans' Art Journal, vol 14, no. 2, Fall 1993/Winter 1994, p. 5, fig. 7, p. 6.

Spicer, Joaneath A., Masters of Light: Dutch Painters in Utrecht During the Golden Age, Baltimore, 1997, pp. 24, 191-192, fig. 1, p. 192.

Helgerson, Richard, "Genremalerei Landkarten und nationale Unsicherheit in Holland des. 17. Jahrhunderts," in Bilder der National: kulturelle und politische Konstruktionen des Nationalen am Beginn der europaischen Moderne, Hamburg, 1998, p. 138, Abb. 6.

Gordon, Andrew, ed., Literature, Mapping, and the Politics of Space in Early Modern Britain, Cambridge, Eng., 2001, pp. 254-257, fig. 28, p. 255.

Schmidt, Benjamin, Innocence Abroad: the Dutch Imagination and the New World, 1570-1670, Cambridge, 2001, p. 274, fig. 40.

Southgate, M. Therese, "The Cover," JAMA, Journal of the American Medical Association, vol. 287, no. 4, Jan. 23/30, 2002, p. 415, repr. on cover (col.).

Stripriaan, Rene van, Het volle leven: Nederlandse literatuur en cultuur ten tidje van de Republiek (circa 1550-1800), Amsterdam, Prometheus, 2002, p. 137, repr. (col.).

Weller, Dennis P., Jan Miense Molenaer: Painter of the Dutch Golden Age, Raleigh, North Carolina Museum of Art, 2002, pp. 14, 28, 31, 32, 33, 34, 98, 100-102, 103, 109, repr. (col.).

Austern, Linda Phyllis, "'All Things in This World is but the Musick of Inconstancie': Music, Sensuality and the Sublime in Seventeenth-Century Vanitas Imagery," in McIver, Katherine A., ed., Art and Music in the Early Modern Era: Essays in Honor of Franca Trinchieri Camiz, Aldershot, Ashgate, 2003, p. 301, fig. 13.6, p. 302.

Ausoni, Alberto, La musica, Milano, Electa, 2005, p. 57, repr. (col.).

Cooper, Suzanne Fagence, "Music, Memory and Loss in Victorian Painting," Nineteenth-Century Music Reivew, vol. 2, no. 1, 2005, pp. 25, 27, fig. 1, p. 26.

Sljijter, Eric Jan, Rembrandt and the Female Nude, Amsterdam, 2006, p. 344, fig. 344.

Yeazell, Ruth Bernard, Art of the Everyday: Dutch Painting and the Realist Novel, Princeton, Princeton University, 2008, pp. 13-14, 223 no. 49, fig. 4-5.

Toledo Museum of Art, Toledo Museum of Art Masterworks, Toledo, 2009, p. 169, repr. (col.).

Emmer, Michele, Bolle di sapone: Tra arte e matematica, Torino, Bollati Boringhieri, 2009, fig. 27 (col.) p. 68.

Oczko, Piotr, Miotla I Krzyz: Kultura Sprzatania W Dawnej Holandii, Albo Historia Pewnej Obsesji, Krakow, Collegium Columbinum, il. 151, p. 370, repr. (col.) p. 368.

Cueterick, Michel, "Jacob Jordaens en 'Een Nieu Liedeken van Callo, Eeen onverwacht dubbelzinnig gebruik van een zeventiende-eeuws Zuid-Nederlands zegelied," De Zeventiende Eeuw , vol. 30, no. 2, 2014, pp. 227-228, repr. fig. 14.

Vandervellen, Pascale ed., The Golden Age of Flemish Harpsichord Making: A Study of the MIM's Ruckers Instruments, Brussels, Musical Instruments Museum, 2017, p. 38, repr. (col.) fig. 12, p. 43.

Exhibition HistoryGrand Rapids, Grand Rapids Art Gallery, Masterpieces of Dutch Art, 1940, no. 53.

San Francisco, California Palace of the Legion of Honor, Vanity Fair, Jun. 16-Jul. 16, 1942 (as Preparation for the Wedding).

Baltimore, Museum of Art, Musical Instruments and Their Portrayal in Art, Apr. 26-Jun. 2, 1946, no. 32 (as Preparation for the Wedding).

Pittsburgh, Carnegie Institute, Department of Fine Arts, Pictures of Everyday Life: Genre Painting in Europe, 1500-1900, Oct. 14-Dec. 21, 1954, no. 37.

Leyden, Stedelijk Museum de Lakenhal, Ijdelheid der Ijdelheden, Hollandse vanitas-voorstellingen uit de zeventiende eeuw, 1970, no. 18.

Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum, Tot Lering en Vermaak, 1976, no. 43.

Philadelphia, Philadelphia Museum of Art; Berlin (West), Gemaldegalerie; London, Royal Academy of Arts, Masters of Seventeenth-Century Dutch Genre Painting, 1984, no. 78.

Raleigh, North Carolina Museum of Art; Indianapolis, Indianapolis Museum of Art (Columbus Gallery); Manchester, Currier Museum of Art, Jan Miense Molenaer: Painter of the Dutch Golden Age, 2002-2003, no. 12.

Toledo, Toledo Museum of Art, Monkey Business, July 2 - August 30, 2009 (no cat.).

Label TextHaarlem artist Jan Miense Molenaer was one of the leading painters of genre scenes—scenes of everyday life—in the first half of the 17th century. Though set in a wealthy Dutch middle class home with contemporary furnishings, this painting is more than a scene of daily life: it is an allegory about the vain love of earthly pleasure. See the card below for more information about the painting’s meaning. Allegory of Vanity is displayed in a 17th-century Dutch fruit wood frame. Though paintings seldom stay united with their original frames over the centuries, wherever possible the Museum displays paintings in frames that are appropriate to the period in which the painting was produced.