Memento Mori Gallery

Roman memento mori mosaic

Roman memento mori mosaic. Mosaics consist of small pieces of coloured glass or stone, used to form an image or pattern on a floor or wall. This mosaic, a memento mori ('remember you will die'), shows a skeleton carrying two wine vessels. The image reminds diners to be aware of their mortality, even while enjoying wine and their meal. This 2nd century BC mosaic, from the Casa del Fauno, Pompeii, is displayed in the Archaeological Museum of Naples, Italy

© SHEILA TERRY/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY

Fantasy Interior with Jan Steen and the Family of Gerrit Schouten, c

3106622 Fantasy Interior with Jan Steen and the Family of Gerrit Schouten, c.1659-60 (oil on canvas)
by Steen, Jan Havicksz. (1625/26-79); 84.8x101.1 cm; Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, USA; (add.info.: Gerrit Schouten owned a brewery called the Elephant in Haarlem referenced by a painting of an elephant over the fireplace. On the mantelpiece a bust of Death, inscribed Discite Mori (learn to die). ); Dutch, out of copyright

© Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, USA / Bridgeman Images

Saint Jerome, 1646 (oil on canvas)

5614472 Saint Jerome, 1646 (oil on canvas) by Ribera, Jusepe de (lo Spagnoletto) (1591-1652); 146X198 cm; Narodni Galerie, Prague, Czech Republic; (add.info.: Saint Jerome is translating biblical texts into Latin in a cave with his traditional attribute of a skull, sign of penitent hermits, and at the same time, a traditional symbol of transience of life or vanity (vanitas).); Italian, out of copyright

© Bridgeman Images