Frans van Everbroeck

Garland paintings are a type of still life invented in early 17th century Antwerp and whose earliest practitioner was Jan Brueghel the Elder.

Paintings in this genre typically show a flower or, less frequently, fruit garland around a devotional image or portrait.

An example is the Garland of fruit surrounding St Joseph with the Child Jesus (1667, at Hampel Fine Art Auctions on 27 March 2009 in Munich, lot 280).

[8] Another example of his production in this genre is A cartouche still life of flowers and fruit around a portrait of a lady dressed as a shepherdess (At Sotheby's on 3 May 2017 in London, lot 138).

[10] This composition contains the typical symbolism of vanitas paintings: a skull, soap bubbles, a candle, an hourglass, a watch and a book (symbolising the futility of mankind's higher aspirations).

On a paper are written the words Memento mori (Latin: "remember that you have to die"), one of the principal themes of vanitas paintings.