BOËTIUS ADAMSZ. BOLSWERT (1580-1633) AFTER DAVID VINCKBOONS (1576-1632)

In this large and crowded allegory of Death and Time, the events unfold on two levels. In the foreground, a crowd of people from all walks of life has gathered to fight Death, whose skeletal figure below a tall tree trunk at left is shooting three arrows at once at his multitudinous foes. Next to Death the winged, long-bearded figure of Time, with an hourglass on the head, shatters some earthly objects with a long scythe - objects probably thrown in vain at Death by his helpless victims. In the background, lit by the radiance of the sun, we see Death firing an arrow at a herd of animals, symbolising the annihilation of all creatures.