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Engraving of a nude infant blowing soap bubbles beside a skull and bones, with a smoking lamp on a pedestal and a Latin inscription below.

Allegory of Transience 'Homo Bulla' (Engraving, 1594)

A nude infant sits on a skull and bones, blowing soap bubbles from a clay pipe while a smoking lamp stands on a pedestal at right. Fine crosshatched engraving shows a distant landscape and, below, a Latin inscription reading "Quis evadet?".

Artist
Hendrick Goltzius
Date
1594
Medium
Engraving on laid paper
Source
Art Institute of Chicago
Size
1686 × 2306 px
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Public domain · Art Institute of Chicago releases this image under CC0 (latest date 1594).
Rights checked 2026-11-05 · tier A · as stated by the source: CC0 (Art Institute of Chicago, is_public_domain=true)

Credit (appreciated, not required for public-domain works): Art Institute of Chicago, Charles Hack and the Hearn Family Trust Collection, purchased with funds provided by the Harry B. and Bessie K. Braude Memorial, Amanda S. Johnson and Marion J. Livingston, anonymous, and Suzanne Searle Dixon endowment funds

Virtues and Allegories16th century1590s1594engravingmemento morivanitascrosshatchinglaid paperallegoryrenaissance printskullinfanthendrick goltziussoap bubbles

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