A woman divided into two, representing life and death. Oil painting.

Reference:
45063i
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Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

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Credit

A woman divided into two, representing life and death. Oil painting. Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0). Source: Wellcome Collection.

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About this work

Description

A woman, standing, divided vertically into two, the right side showing her in life, the left side showing her after her death, as a skeleton. The right side shows the pleasures of life: red ribbons in her powdered hair, jewellery, a bouquet in her hand, the skirt hem decorated with a lace trim, a bed of flowers behind her. The left side shows death: she is holding a reaper's scythe, next to her are a dog-eared Bible and a broken candle, and in the background are cold and barren mountains

Physical description

1 painting : oil on canvas ; canvas 41.5 x 35.5 cm

Related material

Comparable works: two engravings, 'An abridgement of Mr. Pope's Essay on man', by Valentine Green, 1769 (Wellcome Collection 26236i) and 'Life and death contrasted - or, an essay on woman', probably also by V. Green (Wellcome Collection 26238i). These are also split figures, showing life on one side and death on the other, but the woman in the second print is not the same as the woman in the present painting (different costume and attributes)

Reference

Wellcome Collection 45063i

Where to find it

  • LocationStatusAccess
    On Exhibition

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