Allegory on Human Life, c1658-1660. Garlands frame and complement a still life of objects underlining the brevity of human life: a skull, a burning candle, and an hourglass. The human skull had long been a subject for Flemish painters, as in St. Jerome Meditating on a Skull from the workshop of Pieter Coecke van Aelst; indeed many devout Chrstians in the 1600s kept a human skull for their own devotions, as the Human Skull in the Collector's Study. The combination of a skull with the candle and hourglass encourages a meditation on the miracle of Christ’s Resurrection and its promise of e
Allegory on Human Life, c1658-1660. Garlands frame and complement a still life of objects underlining the brevity of human life: a skull, a burning candle, and an hourglass. The human skull had long been a subject for Flemish painters, as in St. Jerome Meditating on a Skull from the workshop of Pieter Coecke van Aelst; indeed many devout Chrstians in the 1600s kept a human skull for their own devotions, as the Human Skull in the Collector's Study. The combination of a skull with the candle and hourglass encourages a meditation on the miracle of Christ’s Resurrection and its promise of eternal life to the faithful.
Size: 3692px × 4960px
Photo credit: © Heritage Images / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
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