Walking Skeleton, Gesina ter Borch, c. 1656

black chalk, h 120mm × w 91mm More details

Death features regularly in Gesina ter Borch’s work. The lower sketch is a study for her watercolour drawing in the Konstboek (Art Book), in which Death hastens to claim the life of a little girl. Her outline is vaguely visible in the sketch. Next to the finished drawing in the album Ter Borch pasted a sheet with aphorisms about the transience of earthly existence.