Page 8

Part 2: The Theme of 'Death' and 'Imbalance:

Skulls and Crossbones'

In art there is a style or form of expression especially popular in Europe during the 17th century known as Vanitas - meaning 'emptiness' or 'untruth', from which we derive the English word 'vanity'. The compositions are usually 'still life' images or genre subjects with the objects symbolising the transience of life.

  Many of the paintings below are Vanitas and include the theme of death as they often include a skull and bones - sometimes crossed. It would do us well to note that the symbol of the Skull and Crossbones is associated with the ancient Egyptian god Osiris, and of course Jesus was crucified on the Hill of Golgotha - the "place of the skull". This skull is often attributed to Adam - believed to have been the ascendent of Jesus, or an earlier incarnation, but again Adam has also been associated with the god Osiris.

  Skulls are also an endemic feature in most of the paintings from the 17th century on the "ET IN ARCADIA" theme which we will be looking at later - e.g., those by the painters Nicolas Poussin (1594–1665) and Guercino (1618–1622).

  Moreover, the skull theme features in Shakespeare's play Hamlet. See here:  

  It must be said that the story of Hamlet was based on the tragic story of Osiris, Set and Horus, and according to the book Hamlet's Mill (1969) by authors, Hertha von Deschend and Giorgio de Santillana (a professor or the history of science), the original versions of the story - i.e, ancient myths and very old folkstories from all over Europe and also Asia - contain encoded information about Precession and the orbital dynamics of the earth. I would suggest these connections be kept in mind when looking at the following paintings in this section.

Vanitas

The first of these fascinating paintings as shown below, was first brought to my attention by Julia B, who posted it on the Graham Hancock website. messageboard.  As Julia tells us, this painting, like others painted by the same artist - and also many other artists I might add - features a skull, a couple of crossed bones, a hourglass, various musical instruments, books, and also a nautilus shell. Here we see a reference to the nautilus shell which is being used as a reference to mathematical Phi, in the end of the violin or viola.

The artist known as Evert Breda Collier - Aka: Edwaert Colyer or Edward Collier - was a Dutch Baroque-period painter born in the year when Poussin is said to have painted his famous Les Bergers d'Acardie (The Arcadian Shepherds) version II.

  On examining this painting, I was not surprised to find the following angles - something I have now come to expect.

As we can see, the skull, the large book and the woodwind instrument (Recorder) are tilted at 23.5º from the vertical.

The bone behind the skull in line with the teeth is angled at 23.5º from the horizontal, and also the top-edge of the bone is 38º (52º ) and aligns with the edge of the "clackers" or Castanets. And lastly the sides of the horn are angled at 23.5º and 38º (52º ).

 

Author Note:

One could and would argue that I - the author - am merely obsessed with these angles and that because of this I am seeing these angles everywhere I look.

  Furthermore, one would also argue that according to the 'law of averages', these angles are sure to appear in many paintings and as frequently as all the other angles we can extract from a 360º circle.

  However, the truth is, that the paintings or sources I am looking at are all associated by theme and also contain deliberate and conspicuous linear items and features that are"begging to be measured" so as to obtain the angles being presented.

  It seems that this is the purpose of these particular Vanitas paintings, as the following examples will reveal.

The next painting is by the same artist.

. . . and rather than suggest that the author be obsessed with these angles, we can see that it is the artist himself who is obsessed with the angles of 23.5º , 52º or 38º , as were many other artists and people (initiates) who were "in the know". I am merely "fleshing out the meaningful bones" (pardon the pun) in these paintings to show that what we are dealing with is a code that is far more ancient and much bigger in scope than the so-called "DA VINCI CODE" which has been wrongly deciphered and interpreted.

  And later I will reveal that even Leonardo Da Vinci himself was familiar with these angles and had in fact encoded the same information, as did Poussin and many others.

Back to previous page