Traviata 

Here we see Erte's ‘Traviata’, a work brimming with symbols of love and mortality. The most striking is the rose. Typically it is an emblem of love and beauty, its thorns hint at the pain intertwined with passion. Think of Botticelli’s Venus, surrounded by roses as she embodies divine love, now juxtapose that with the wilting roses in a vanitas painting which serve as memento mori. Note the flickering candle as well, illuminating and also casting shadows. The play of light and dark, is similar to Caravaggio’s chiaroscuro, where light reveals truth amidst darkness. The candle is a symbol of life's transience. It reminds us that beauty fades, love can wound, and life is fleeting. The recurring motif in art history reflects our deep-seated awareness of mortality. The collective memory and shared human experience speak to the cyclical nature of these symbols, each generation reinterpreting and embedding them with new layers of meaning.