Allegory of Vanitas and Penance, Guido Cagnacci
In this painting the female nude is traversed by an incessant luministic variation; a sense of instability that is in tune with the allusion to the precariousness of the life of the cut flower and the showerhead that disperses at the slightest gust of wind; both held by the young woman who invites penance through the skull and the rough woven mat. It is very likely to date back to the forties of the seventeenth century, also for the richness of the stylistic references to Guercino's contemporary painting and especially to Guido Reni's last works.
