Editing Vanity (section)

==Symbolism==
[[File:Jacob Neefs, Jacob Jordaens (after) - Nosce Te Ipsum (Allegory of Vanity).jpg|left|thumb|274x274px|''Nosce Te Ipsum (Allegory of Vanity)'', engraving by Jacob Neefs after a drawing by [[Jacob Jordaens]]]]In Western art, vanity was often symbolized by a [[peacock]], and in [[Bible|Biblical]] terms, by the [[Whore of Babylon]]. During the [[Renaissance]], vanity was often represented as a naked woman, sometimes seated or reclining on a couch. She attends to her hair with comb and mirror. The mirror is sometimes held by a [[demon]] or a [[putto]]. Symbols of vanity include jewels, gold coins, a purse, and the figure of death.{{Citation needed|date=September 2011}}

Some depictions of vanity include scrolls that read ''Omnia Vanitas'' ("All is Vanity”), a quotation from the Latin translation of the Biblical book of [[Ecclesiastes]].<ref>James Hall, ''Dictionary of Subjects & Symbols in Art'' (New York: Harper & Row, 1974), p. 318.</ref> Although the term [[vanitas]] (Latin, "emptiness") originally meant not obsession by one's appearance, but the ultimate fruitlessness of humankind's efforts in this world, the phrase summarizes the complete preoccupation of the subject of the picture.

"The artist invites us to pay lip-service to condemning her," writes [[Edwin Mullins]], "while offering us full permission to drool over her. She admires herself in the glass, while we treat the picture that purports to incriminate her as another kind of glass—a window—through which we peer and secretly desire her."<ref>Edwin Mullins, ''The Painted Witch: How Western Artists Have Viewed the Sexuality of Women'' (New York: Carroll & Graf Publishers, Inc., 1985), pp. 62–63.</ref> The theme of the recumbent woman often merged artistically with the non-allegorical one of a reclining [[Venus (god)|Venus]].
[[File:Thomas Couture - Daydreams - Walters 3744.jpg|thumb|In this 1859 painting ''Daydreams'' by [[Thomas Couture]], the vice of vanity is shown through a boy blowing bubbles.<ref>{{cite web |title=Daydreams |url=http://art.thewalters.org/detail/12349 |publisher=The Walters Art Museum}}</ref> The Walters Art Museum.]]In his table of the [[seven deadly sins]], [[Hieronymus Bosch]] depicts a [[Bourgeoisie|bourgeois]] woman admiring herself in a mirror held up by a devil; behind her is an open jewelry box. A painting attributed to [[Nicolas Tournier]], which hangs in the [[Ashmolean Museum]], is ''An Allegory of Justice and Vanity'': a young woman holds a [[Weighing scale#Balance|balance]], symbolizing [[justice]]; she does not look in a mirror or the [[human skull|skull]] on the table before her. [[Johannes Vermeer]]'s painting ''[[Girl with a Pearl Earring]]'' is sometimes believed to depict the sin of vanity, because the young girl has adorned herself before a glass without further positive allegorical attributes.

''All is Vanity'', by [[Charles Allan Gilbert]] (1873–1929), carries on this theme. An [[optical illusion]], the painting depicts what appears to be a large grinning skull. Upon closer examination, it reveals itself to be a young woman gazing at her reflection in the mirror. In the 1997 film ''[[The Devil's Advocate (1997 film)|The Devil's Advocate]]'', [[Satan]] ([[Al Pacino]]) claims that "vanity is his favourite sin".

Such artistic works served to warn viewers of the ephemeral nature of youthful beauty, as well as the brevity of human life and the inevitability of death.

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