Still life paintings, ranked the least prestigious category by the French Académie de peinture et de sculpture, depict inanimate subjects, typically common objects such as food, flowers, books, and vases. Ranked the least prestigious of art genres, still lifes were the first genre art students were expected to master. Prior to the 18th century, still lifes often contained religious and allegorical symbolism. (http://european-art.findthedata.com/l/5791/Vanitas-with-Violin-and-Glass-Ball) Pieter Claesz creates an amazing vanitas in 1628. Here the focus is taken away from the skull, unlike earlier vanitas paintings in the exhibit, and he places it in the background. In front of the skull we see an overturned glass, whose contents have been drained out. This alludes to the brevity of all pleasures in life. On the other end of the table we see a pocket watch opened and facing the viewer. Once again we have the reference to time with the clock. The glass sphere in the back ground is very interesting. Here Claesz uses it to insert himself into the painting through a reflection. The sphere can also be seen as an allusion to a soap bubble similar to the ones seen in Jan van Kessel’s vanitas painting. The violin in the center of the painting, shows the parallels between music and painting, both pleasures in life. (https://tjlifeisbeautiful.wordpress.com/2011/05/10/vanitas-with-violin-and-glass-ball-by-pieter-claesz-1628/)