Henry Fuseli
Allegory of Vanity


Artwork Detail
If Neo-classicism represented repose and decorum, Romanticism represented excitement and movement. Here the flying figure is Time. The inscription is from Virgil's Georgics III; 'Time flies for those of us who remain captivated by the spell of love'. The subtext was a popular theme in European art of the period, that time robs beauty from all women in the end. (Monsters and Maidens, 2004)
[second image on reverse]
- Title
- Allegory of Vanity
- Artist/creator
- Production date
- 1811
- Medium
- pen, pencil and watercolour
- Dimensions
- 200 x 271 mm
- Credit line
- Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki, purchased 1965
- Accession no
- 1965/61
- Copyright
- No known copyright restrictions
- Department
- International Art
- Display status
- On display
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