Borstbeeld van een oude vrouw 1625 - 1674

Jan Lievens etched this head of an old woman, an anonymous face from 17th-century Holland. The head covering, framing her face, speaks volumes. It is a symbol of piety, perhaps, but also of the weight of years, a physical manifestation of time’s relentless march. We see it echoed in countless depictions of elders across centuries—in the veiled figures of Roman funerary art, in the solemn Madonnas of the Renaissance. Consider how this same motif reappears in other contexts: the headscarves of peasant women in Millet’s paintings, each fold telling a story of hardship and resilience. This simple covering becomes a vessel, carrying the collective memory of generations past. It invites us to project our own anxieties and aspirations onto her visage, a face that mirrors our shared mortality. It is this potent blend of empathy and introspection that makes this image so compelling, engaging us on a subconscious level. The symbol of the head covering is not fixed; it evolves, resurfaces, and takes on new meanings, weaving a complex tapestry of human experience across time.