Still Life: An Allegory of the Vanities of Human Life

There's no doubt about where our gaze is directed here. A dramatic shaft of sunlight cuts through the gloom to highlight the empty eye sockets and gap-toothed grin of a skull which lolls to one side on the edge of the table. We are staring death in the face, while the snuffed-out lamp and ticking watch remind us that our time too will come.

This genre of painting is known as a vanitas still life. The word refers to a passage in the Old Testament which contrasts the transience of worldly life with the everlasting nature of faith: 'All is vanity. What profit hath a man of all his labour which he taketh under the sun?'

The implication is that human endeavours, pleasures and possession - symbolised by the books, the musical instruments and the expensive Japanese sword - are ephemeral and futile.

Credit: Presented by Lord Savile, 1888