Narcissus 

Jan Cossiers painted "Narcissus" with oil on canvas, immortalizing the tragic figure from Ovid's "Metamorphoses." Narcissus, captivated by his own reflection in the water, embodies the perils of self-obsession. The motif of the reflected image appears throughout art history—mirrors in vanitas paintings reminding us of our mortality, or distorted reflections hinting at inner turmoil, each a variation on the theme of self-awareness. Consider Caravaggio's "Salome with the Head of John the Baptist," where Salome's averted gaze mirrors Narcissus's absorption. It’s a theme of consequence, where beauty and ego lead to dire outcomes. The water, acting as both a mirror and a barrier, suggests the blurred lines between reality and illusion, sanity and madness. Gazing at this image, we confront our own vanities. We recognize Narcissus’s folly as a universal susceptibility, a shared vulnerability to the intoxicating allure of the self. The persistence of this tale speaks to the unchanging depths of human nature.