As a subgroup of still lifes, Vanitas painting is a category of art that aims to show the transience of life, the futility of pleasure, and the certainty of death; often contrasting symbols of wealth and symbols of ephemerality and death. An elderly woman with a covered head is portrayed bending over a big skull in the act of stealthily carrying it away. Her gaze, in fact, goes beyond the painting, as if suddenly distracted by something that is happening to the left. On the right is the bas-relief of an altar, or sepulcher, while at the bottom left is part of the frame; perhaps a mirror symbol of prudence.
