Vanity is the excessive belief in one's own abilities or attractiveness compared to others. Prior to the 14th century, it did not have suchnarcissistic undertones, and merely meantfutility.[1] The related termvainglory is now often seen as an archaic synonym forvanity, but originally meantconsidering one's own capabilities and that God's help was not needed, i.e. unjustifiedboasting;[2] althoughglory is now seen as having a predominantly positive meaning,[citation needed] theLatin term from which it derives,gloria, roughly meansboasting, and was often used as a negative criticism.[3]
In many religions, vanity, in its modern sense, is considered a form of self-idolatry in which one likens oneself to the greatness of God for the sake of one's own image, and thereby becomes separated and perhaps in time divorced from the Divine grace ofGod. In Christian teachings,vanity is an example ofpride, one of theseven deadly sins.[4]
Philosophically, vanity may be a broader form ofegotism andpride.Friedrich Nietzsche wrote that "vanity is the fear of appearing original: it is thus a lack of pride, but not necessarily a lack of originality."[5] One ofMason Cooley'saphorisms is "Vanity well fed is benevolent. Vanity hungry is spiteful."[5]
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In Western art, vanity was often symbolized by apeacock, and inBiblical terms, by theWhore of Babylon. During theRenaissance, vanity was often represented as a naked woman, sometimes seated or reclining on a couch. She attends to her hair with comb and mirror. The mirror is sometimes held by ademon or aputto. Symbols of vanity include jewels, gold coins, a purse, and the figure of death.[citation needed]
Some depictions of vanity include scrolls that readOmnia Vanitas ("All is Vanity”), a quotation from the Latin translation of the Biblical book ofEcclesiastes.[6] Although the termvanitas (Latin, "emptiness") originally meant not obsession by one's appearance, but the ultimate fruitlessness of humankind's efforts in this world, the phrase summarizes the complete preoccupation of the subject of the picture.
"The artist invites us to pay lip-service to condemning her," writesEdwin Mullins, "while offering us full permission to drool over her. She admires herself in the glass, while we treat the picture that purports to incriminate her as another kind of glass—a window—through which we peer and secretly desire her."[7] The theme of the recumbent woman often merged artistically with the non-allegorical one of a recliningVenus.
In his table of theseven deadly sins,Hieronymus Bosch depicts abourgeois woman admiring herself in a mirror held up by a devil; behind her is an open jewelry box. A painting attributed toNicolas Tournier, which hangs in theAshmolean Museum, isAn Allegory of Justice and Vanity: a young woman holds abalance, symbolizingjustice; she does not look in a mirror or theskull on the table before her.Johannes Vermeer's paintingGirl with a Pearl Earring is sometimes believed to depict the sin of vanity, because the young girl has adorned herself before a glass without further positive allegorical attributes.[citation needed]
All is Vanity, byCharles Allan Gilbert (1873–1929), carries on this theme. Anoptical illusion, the painting depicts what appears to be a large grinning skull. Upon closer examination, it reveals itself to be a young woman gazing at her reflection in the mirror. In the 1997 filmThe Devil's Advocate,Satan (Al Pacino) claims that "vanity is his favourite sin".
Such artistic works served to warn viewers of the ephemeral nature of youthful beauty, as well as the brevity of human life and the inevitability of death.
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