Vanitas Still Life with a Skeleton Print, Carstian Luyckx Memento Mori Wall Art, Skull Painting

Death has taken a seat among the treasures. He holds a sheet of parchment and waits for you to read it.

A fine art print of Vanitas Still Life with a Skeleton by Carstian Luyckx, memento mori wall art for a dark academia study.

ABOUT THE PAINTING
Carstian Luyckx was a Flemish still life painter, baptised in Antwerp in 1623, who later worked in what is now northern France. This painting, catalogued in full as A Vanitas Still Life with Musical Instruments, Sheet Music, Books, a Skeleton, Skulls, and Armor, gathers every earthly prize in one place: a crown, a suit of armour, a royal banner, a lute, a violin and open books. A vanitas is a still life which reminds us that wealth, power and pleasure all pass. Here Death sits among them.

Look closely at the hourglass beside the skulls and the Latin lines carved into the pedestal. For years paintings like this were credited to the French painter Simon Renard de Saint-André, until scholars returned them to Luyckx. This canvas spent decades in a Swiss private collection. In 2018 it sold in Zurich for more than ten times its estimate. It now hangs in the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, in the collection of the Sarah Campbell Blaffer Foundation.

THE LOOK
Blood red velvet, royal blue silk and the old ivory of bone against dark stone. Rich, solemn and endlessly detailed. Memento mori wall art for a study, a home library or a gothic hallway, and gothic home decor with a message.

GIFTING
A thoughtful gift for a birthday, a graduation or a new home library. A painting which reminds us to make the most of our time.

MORE
More memento mori in our Gothic Memento Mori Art collection: Allegory of Death by Tomás Mondragón and Death and Life Contrasted after Robert Dighton. For another still life with a warning, see Flowers and a Watch by Abraham Mignon.

THE PRINT
A fine art reproduction of the original painting on 200gsm matte paper. Rich colour, no glare.

Sizes: A5, A4, A3 and A2, plus 12x16 and 18x24 inches. Custom sizes on request. Frames: black, white or oak, or unframed.

Printed locally in the UK, Europe, the US, Canada and Australia, at the location closest to you. Free tracked shipping, no customs fees.

Please note: each print is reproduced from a museum photograph of the original painting. Larger sizes show the canvas weave, brushwork and age cracks up close, details not visible in these photos or smaller prints. Like the painting itself, it is best viewed from a short distance.

REAL ART, NOT AI
Every print in our shop starts with a real painting from a museum collection or public archive. We research each work and prepare the file for print. We never sell AI-generated art.

PRINT QUALITY
200gsm matte paper. Archival, fade-resistant inks. Sharp detail and deep colour.

SIZES
A5: 148 x 210 mm (5.8 x 8.3 in)
A4: 210 x 297 mm (8.3 x 11.7 in)
A3: 297 x 420 mm (11.7 x 16.5 in)
A2: 420 x 594 mm (16.5 x 23.4 in)
12 x 16 in (30 x 40 cm)
18 x 24 in (45 x 60 cm)
Need a size to fit an existing frame? Message us for a custom print.

FRAMING
Unframed, or framed and ready to hang. Frames in black, white and oak.

DELIVERY
Unframed prints ship rolled in a postal tube. Framed prints ship flat and protected. Every order ships tracked to the UK, US, EU, Canada, Australia and worldwide.

QUESTIONS
Message us about sizing, framing or custom orders. We reply within a few hours.