Allegory of Transience

An elegantly dressed, bejewelled young woman sits at a table. To her right stands a chair with male attire on it and in the background there is a bed – an unmistakable reference to physical love. Other objects in the painting make the same allusion. The lute, which has been taken out of its case, symbolizes lost innocence. In this context, the parrot, too, is a sexually significant motif. The letter that the young woman holds is undoubtedly a love letter.
The woman is engrossed in her amorous reflections and is unaware that death is lying in wait – she is Vanitas incarnate. The old woman, who to press the point home holds a withered flower in one hand and a skull in the other, alerts the viewer to the transience of youthful beauty and the brevity of life.