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TIME AND DEATH
Pair of popular funerary paintings on canvas, 19th century
Death and Time. Two images, one origin.
This particular pair of paintings comes from the sides of a popular funerary catafalque dating back to the 19th century.
The first panel depicts a skull with crossbones and a scythe, an unmistakable symbol of death and the transience of existence.
The second features a winged hourglass, an image traditionally associated with the inexorable passage of time and the fleeting nature of life.
Two simple yet extremely powerful subjects, which together convey one of the fundamental concepts of the culture of Memento Mori and Vanitas:
Time passes and Death awaits.
THE RECOVERY
The two paintings were not originally conceived as independent works.
They were part of the sides of an ancient funerary catafalque, an apparatus used to accompany and celebrate the funeral rite.
When the artifact could no longer be preserved in its original form, the two pictorial elements were recovered and transformed into two independent works, preserving them as a pair.
A particularly important element of this restoration concerns the frames.
The wooden structures that now surround the paintings were created using original elements from the catafalque itself, recovered from the structure, cut, and reassembled to give a new shape to the two panels.
In other words, not only do the paintings come from the catafalque: the frames also retain the original material of the ancient funerary apparatus.
TRACES OF TIME
We deliberately chose not to erase the traces of time.
The surfaces retain abrasions, color loss, irregularities, and signs of their long history.
No aesthetic restoration was carried out to make the works new or uniform.
On the contrary, these imperfections were preserved because they are an integral part of their authenticity and the history of the object.
The lived-in material, the folksy nature of the painting, and the traces of time contribute to conveying the atmosphere of the ancient funerary apparatus from which they originate.
Their provenance is also documented by an original photograph of the catafalque, in which the two painted panels can be recognized before their recovery.
THE MEANING
DEATH—the skull, crossbones, and scythe immediately convey the representation of the end of existence.
TIME—the winged hourglass reminds us that time flows inexorably and that no one can stop it.
Together, the two paintings form a powerful symbolic dialogue:
TIME PASSES.DEATH AWAITS.
A particularly interesting pair for collectors of Memento Mori, Vanitas, funerary art, folk culture, Wunderkammer, and objects related to the history and rituals of death.
MEASURES
Skull Painting 70 × 68 × 3 cm
Hourglass Painting 71 × 66.5 × 3 cm
Sold exclusively as a pair.
A restoration in which the original material was not replaced, but preserved, recomposed, and given a new life.

SHIPPING COST

Italy: €45

Europe: €100

United States: €280

Rest of the World: €380 (always ask for confirmation)