Still Life with a Skull and a Writing Quill  1628

This is one of the earliest dated still lifes by Claesz, a Haarlem painter who gave extraordinary presence to familiar things. Here a skull, an overturned glass roemer with its fleeting reflections, an expired lamp, and the attributes of a writer suggest that worldly efforts are ultimately in vain. (Source: [url=https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/435904]The Me...