Memento Mori

With its square format and proximity of the objects depicted, this memento mori still life is striking in its simplicity and unequivocal symbolism. The large skull occupies the central part of sheet and covers about a third of it, facing the viewer it frontally: death awaits us all and stares us into the faces. To its left stands a transparent vase of roses with one petal fallen, and to its right lies an engraved clock watch - both symbols of the inevitable decay and end. The dark message is intensified by the impressive range of tonalities achieved by Morin's dense, intricate web of etched lines. Morin's extreme clair-obscur effects anticipate of invention of the mezzotint technique and must be seen in the context of the experiments with the depiction of light and darkness of the Northern 17th-century printmakers.
Morin created this terrifying but astonishingly virtuoso print after a now lost painting by Philippe de Champaigne. Another, similar painting by Champaigne is today at the Musée de Tessé in Le Mans, France, with an hourglass in place of the clock watch.
The print is very rare and to our knowledge only another impression (of the later, reworked third state) was offered at auction within the last thirty years.
Despite his love of life, Chris Mendez had a weakness for memento mori. Not only did he keep some of them for his personal collection of prints (see lots 2-6), he also had a small, but choice collection of garments adorned with skulls, including a shirt which he gleefully lent to his son Ned for a Halloween party.