The term "vanitas" describes a specific type of still life picture. We may define vanitas as being: "a still life painting of symbolic objects that conveys a biblical or christian message about the transience of earthly life when compared to the permanence of Christian values". This form of Christian art was refined by Dutch Realist artists during the Dutch Golden Age of the early 17th century, as a reaction to Roman Catholicism and Catholic Counter-Reformation Art, and to meet the new austere aesthetics of Protestant Reformation Art in Northern Europe. The word "vanitas" is Latin for "vanity". A vanitas painting tries to convey the essential meaninglessness of earthly goods and pursuits, when compared with the eternal nature of true Christian values. A vanitas picture contains collections of objects symbolic of the transitory nature of life, the vanity of wealth and the inevitability of death. Viewers are asked to reconsider their misguided coveting of worldly pleasures and possessions, to remember their mortality, and to repent for their sins.