Still Life with a Boy Blowing Soap-bubbles

Gerard Dou

1613 - 1675

Still Life with a Boy Blowing Soap-bubbles

c. 1635-36
Oil on panel 48 x 39.7 cm
Signed (G and D in monogram) lower right on edge of table: G DOV
P.1981-0001

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The soap-bubbles, skull, hourglass, feathered cap, gourd and other still-life elements shown in this work indicate that the subject is "Vanitas", the emptiness and ephemeral quality of man's existence. The Dutch artist Gerard Dou was influenced by Rembrandt and painted many genre scenes. This work is thought to have been painted relatively early in his career during the years 1635-36. The realistic depiction of still-life elements floating against the dark reaches of an interior setting is typical of Dou's work.

(Source: The Digital Gallery. 1999-2006)