Collection Online
Death and an old woman

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

Download
 

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 Ms Carol Grigor through Metal Manufactures Limited