Terms and conditions of use
Death and an old woman
(c. 1655)
Medium
oil on wood panel
Measurements
37.3 × 33.6 cm
Credit Line
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
Purchased, 1874
Gallery location
17th Century & Flemish Paintings Gallery
Level 2, NGV International
About this work
Joos van Craesbeeck was the only known pupil of the Flemish genre painter Adriaen Brouwer and became a leading painter known for his quirky, often macabre, sense of humour. This homely scene reflects his characteristically wry view of mortality. A skeleton creeps up on an elderly woman, who is surrounded by familiar symbols of death. In a painting on the wall, a second skeleton takes possession of a coffin in a churchyard. Behind the woman a message warns the viewer that ‘No bird, flesh or fish has ever dodged it, they don’t miss shooting’. A second inscription states: ‘My body is/has been preserved; I know not where my soul dwells’.
Artwork Details
Place/s of Execution
the Netherlands
Inscription
inscribed in brown paint l.c.r.: C B
Accession Number
p.304.7-1
Department
International Painting
This digital record has been made available on NGV Collection Online through the generous support of Digitisation Champion Dame Carol Colburn-Grigor CBE through Metal Manufactures Limited
Subjects (general)
Allegory and Symbols Human Figures
Subjects (specific)
coffins Death (allegorical character) deaths elderly memento mori mortality skeletons (animal components) women (female humans)