Flemish School, Allegory of the transience of... Lot 54

Flemish School, Allegory of the transience of life 18th century oil on canvas cm 64x94 This painting shows the rare iconography of the fight between Cupid and Death, represented in the background at the centre of the composition. Cupid facing the macabre figure of Death, portrayed in the guise of a skeleton, alludes to the dichotomy of Eros and Thanatos, the two driving forces that move the individual, intimately linked, always present in each other, extreme and opposite. In the foreground, on the other hand, there is an old man intent on approaching a young woman, referring to the opposition between old age and youth, and alluding once again to the theme of the inevitability of death, further underlined by the image of the severed trunk behind the couple. It is therefore an allegorical work associated with the theme of vanitas, which here takes on ambiguous characteristics, aimed at singing the transience of life, but at the same time, given its fragile nature, at seizing the day, before eternity takes over. Possible sources for the painting, which can be placed in a Flemish context, include the various editions of the collection of writings by Jacob Cats (1577 - 1660) entitled 'Ouderdom, buytenleven en hofgedachten op Sorghvliet' (Old Age, Country Life and Country Thoughts in Zorgvliet), printed in Holland from 1658 onwards.