Vanitas

An old woman observes her reflection in a mirror held by one of her maids. Her dressing table is littered with perfume bottles and pearls. Images of a lady at her toilet often carried a moralising message about the vanity or emptiness of the things of the world and the inevitability of death. The flowers that the old woman holds are symbols of impermanence and hence of decay. Previously this print was thought to be by Cornelis Visscher after Rubens (see the old pen and ink inscription below the image). The painting by Strozzi on which it is based is in the Pushkin Museum, Moscow.