Van Bochoutt's Vanitas still life with a poem on the death of Charles I (signed and dated 1668, at Bonhams auction of 23 October 2019, London lot 67TP) is one of his most extensive and explicit vanitas paintings. The usual moral lessons of vanitas still lifes are conveyed by the objects represented in this still life: the brevity of life and the unstoppable march of time are symbolized by the skull, extinguished candle, empty pipe, smoldering fuse, wilting flowers, decaying fruit, dead animals, an almanac and a watch; the role of chance in life by the dice and playing cards; the hardships of life in the peeled lemon and the emptiness of worldly achievements and power in the ink stand, globe, musical scores and books. The latter theme is particularly highlighted by a reference to the fate of the executed English king Charles I of England. The composition depicts a playing card of a king lying on its side, a crown and a Dutch-language mourning poem on the death of Charles I which is lying over a skull. The poem is stated at its bottom to have been printed in Amsterdam in 1665. In the Northern Netherlands there was a lot of sympathy for the executed king among the large community of exiled English Royalists and a significant number of Dutch citizens. Other Dutch and Flemish still life artists, such as Vincent van der Vinne, Hendrick Andriessen and Carstian Luyckx, were also producing vanitas still lifes on the death of King Charles I for the Dutch market. An example is the Vanitas still life with a globe, sceptre, a skull crowned with straw by Hendrick Andriessen (c. 1650, Mount Holyoke College Art Museum).Hendrick Andriessen, Vanitas Still Life, ca. 1650 at the Mount Holyoke College Art Museum
