Vanitas is a genre of memento mori symbolizing the transience of life, the futility of pleasure, and the certainty of death, and thus the vanity of ambition and all worldly desires. The paintings involved still life imagery of transitory items. The genre began in the 16th century and continued into the 17th century. Vanitas art is a type of allegorical art representing a higher ideal. The word vanitas comes from Latin and means vanity. In this context, vanity means pointlessness, or futility, not to be confused with the other definition of vanity. Vanity is referenced in Ecclesiastes 1:2, "Vanity of Vanities, saith the preacher, all is vanity".
