Design for a tomb 1686 - 1724

Pieter Verbruggen the Younger created this drawing for a tomb design, using pen and brown ink with gray wash, heightened with white, over red chalk. Verbruggen, born into a family of sculptors in 17th century Antwerp, worked within a cultural context deeply shaped by the Catholic Church and its artistic traditions. Notice the allegorical figures: an angel, a kneeling figure holding a scythe, and cherubic figures on the pedestal. These are all traditional symbols, but what do they tell us about the deceased, or perhaps more tellingly, about those who commissioned this memorial? The kneeling figure with the scythe and the angel suggests perhaps a life cut short. The artist uses familiar tropes to soften death's blow, offering comfort to the living through the visual language of faith and remembrance. How does this representation speak to our own ways of memorializing loss today? Are we still drawn to allegorical language, or do we seek more personal, immediate forms of expression?