Deriving from the Latin word for vanity, the term describes a painting, or element of a painting, which acts as a reminder of the inevitability of death and the pointlessness of earthly ambitions and achievements.  Common vanitas symbols include skulls, guttering candles, hour-glasses and clocks, overturned vessels, and even flowers (which soon fade).  The vanitas theme was popular during the Baroque period, with the vanitas still life flourishing in Dutch art.