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Allegory of Transience


Child Seated on a Skull, Blowing Bubbles

Medium/Technique Engraving
Dimensions Sheet: 21.6 x 16 cm (8 1/2 x 6 5/16 in.)
Credit Line Harvey D. Parker Collection—Harvey Drury Parker Fund
Accession NumberP7302
NOT ON VIEW
ClassificationsPrints

Catalogue Raisonné Bartsch 011 (unidentified artist after Goltzius)
Signed Signed in plate, lower center, above parapet: HGoltzius excud.
Marks Watermark (yes, but not yet identified); verso: collector's stamp in black: JBJ [Rev. J. Burleigh James; Lugt 1425]; collector's stamp in red: H.F.S. [Henry F. Sewall; Lugt 1309]; purple Parker Collection MFA stamp with accession number in ink: 7302 [Lugt 1870]
InscriptionsIn plate, at lower center, on parapet: QVUIS EVADETs
In plate, in lower margin, at left: Momento breuis haec, certeq obnoxia morti / Vita, quasi fumus, bullula, flosq perit. / Cur ergo teneris prôh stulti fidimus añis! / Cur non sponte mori discimus ante diem!;
In plate, in lower margin, at right: Excussa blandæ carnis, dum vita superstes, / Compede, post mortem liberiore gradu / Spiritus astra petet, iam sedem vbi ficerat ante, / Ciuemq agnoscet catica turba suum
ProvenanceMid-19th century, Rev. J. Burleigh James (Knowlbury Park, Shropshire, England), collection dispersed 1877. Henry F. Sewell (1816-1896, New York); November, 1897, Sewall collection purchased for the MFA by Harvey D. Parker.