Tuesday, May 20, 2014

Life and Death Contrasted (ca.1770), The Public Domain Review

From one of my very favorite websites, The Public Domain Review via The Wellcome Library:
A striking image from the British engraver and publisher Valentine Green, illustrating the idea that life, with all its frivolity and distractions (symbolized by the romance novel, parlor games, and high society lady in all her finery) is in fact – echoing the sentiment of Ecclesiastes (quoted on the obelisk) – nothing but “vanity”, all lives as they do inevitably ending in death. The subtitle – “an essay on woman” – does, however, raise the question of whether Green is making a further comment on womanhood itself...
To read the full story--and see an additional image--click here.

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