![Karel Dujardin - Boy Blowing Soap Bubbles, Allegory on the Transitoriness and the Brevity of Life [1663] by Gandalf's Gallery](http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5502/11492693694_520f0980fe.jpg)
Karel Dujardin - Boy Blowing Soap Bubbles, Allegory on the Transitoriness and the Brevity of Life [1663], a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.
The boy has just lowered his pipe and looks with satisfaction at the bubbles he has sent flying. One hand holds the soap dish, a scallop shell which still holds a few trembling bubbles. The boy is balanced on a giant soap bubble, surfing the waves on an equally giant shell. This vessel constitutes a surreal element within what is otherwise a realistic depiction, proclaiming the motif to be an allegory. The motif is a memento mori, a reminder of the transience of happiness and the brevity of human life. The work combines two well-known tropes from the 17th century: Fortuna, the goddess of good fortune, rolling on the waves on a ball, and the Homo Bulla (est) (Man is a bubble) concept, which is often portrayed as a child blowing soap bubbles.
[National Gallery of Denmark, Copenhagen]