Axial Commons Image Treasury
Engraving of a winged putto standing on a skull, blowing bubbles, with a flower vase at left, a smoking urn at right, and Latin text below.

Allegory of Transience (Quis Evadet?) engraving

A chubby winged putto stands on a human skull, blowing soap bubbles from a clay pipe held in one hand. Flowers in a vase sit at left, a smoking urn at right, and Latin verses fill the lower margin in this fine engraving.

Artist
Hendrick Goltzius
Date
c. 1590
Medium
Engraving on laid paper
Source
Art Institute of Chicago
Size
1686 × 2265 px
Download full size
Public domain · Art Institute of Chicago releases this image under CC0 (latest date 1595).
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 Allegoriesengravingmemento morivanitaslaid paperrenaissance printflowersskulllatin inscriptionputtosoap bubbles

More from Virtues and Allegories

An Allegory of AbundanceAn Allegory of AbundanceAllegory of Transcience ‘Homo Bulla’Allegory of Transcience ‘Homo Bulla’The Triumph of WisdomThe Triumph of WisdomFortitude, from The VirtuesFortitude, from The VirtuesBabylonBabylonFun'ya no Yasuhide, from the series "Allegory of the Six Poets (Furyu rokkasen)"Fun'ya no Yasuhide, from the series "Allegory of the Six Poets (Furyu rokkasen)"