# Vanitas Allegory [View the canonical artwork record]() ## Artwork - Artist: [POORTER, Willem de]() - Date: 1601-1650 - Technique: Oil on oak panel, 58 x 47 cm ## Commentary A speciality developed by De Poorter was the vanitas allegory. He treated several different kinds of vanitas motifs, often with a woman looking into a mirror. In the present painting a woman at her dressing table is seen to flinch at a skeleton that is holding up a mirror to her - a reminder of her mortality. The style of the painting is typical of the circle around the young Rembrandt in the 1630s. De Poorter often incorporated still-lifes into his compositions. Here a great many props are piled up together: shiny brass objects, silverware, jewels and pieces of armour as well as musical instruments. ## Related artworks - [A Woman Praying]() - [Allegory of Colonial Power]() - [Croesus Shows Solon his Wealth]() - [Still-Life with Weapons and Banners]() ## Attribution [Web Gallery of Art]()