The nominal subject of the canvas is the richly dressed

unknown gentleman on the left, who is sleeping,

perchance to dream, just as Hamlet had mused

in his monologue, for sleep is like a rehearsal for death.

Maybe he reflects the state of the Spanish Empire.

Yet the focal point of the painting is the angel

holding a banner telling us what damage

time can do: “maiming eternally, flying by at speed

and killing.” Presumably, this is his dream.

The imagined is shown merging here with life

in this world as it did in the play “Life’s a Dream”

by the seventeenth-century playwright Calderón.

The vanity of earthly reality is represented

by the myriad artefacts strewn across the table:

a clock placed precariously on the table’s edge

could easily fall off, the box overflowing with jewels

are riches that are meaningless in the afterlife to come.

The skull on top of the bible evokes Corinthians 4:18,

which reminds the reader that what is seen is temporary

whereas what is unseen, in other words divine, is eternal.

This image underlines the brevity of our time on earth,

further reinforced by the sight of an extinguished candle.

The coins, the playing cards and the mask of hypocrisy

hint at the gentleman’s louche form of existence.

The firearm might suggest a way of putting an end to it all

or that he wastes much of his time hunting in the woods.

The work emphasizes that life is both paltry and fleeting,

the gentleman exemplifies vanitas that others might learn.

Even the globe itself appears to be covered by a shroud.

In true Baroque style, the artist holds out no hope,

perhaps because the recent successful Portuguese revolt

was the tipping point that began the terminal decline

of the once invincible, far-flung Spanish Empire.

Tony Dawson, 24 May 2026