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Giovanni Martinelli (Italian, 1600-1659), Death Comes to the Banquet Table, circa 1630-1640. Oil on canvas. New Orleans Museum of Art, Gift of Mrs. William G. Helis, Sr. in memory of her husband.
The theme of the memento mori, a picture that reminds the viewer of the ephemeral nature of human life, often includes the sensual pleasures associated with food and drink as a symbolic warning against human vanity. In Martinelli’s version of this tradition a lavish feast is disrupted by the dramatic appearance of Death. Each guest’s reaction is vividly expressed through a melodramatic gesture, ranging from the shock and denial expressed by Death’s chosen, to the horror of the new bride, to the displeasure of the sybaritic guests at the interruption of their feast. The emphasis upon the man and woman on the right as well as the festive clothing of the group suggest that the celebration had been in honor of the couple’s marriage, precipitously ended by Death’s summons of the bridegroom.
