Eurasian woman sleeping on a couch 1662

This simple sketch by Esaias Boursse captures a Eurasian woman in slumber, draped in a patterned cloth upon a humble couch. Sleep, in its iconography, has always been a potent symbol. Think of the mythological figure of Hypnos, or Somnus to the Romans, the embodiment of sleep, often depicted with wings or a poppy stem, emblems of rest and oblivion. But sleep is also a symbol of vulnerability, a temporary surrender to the subconscious. We see echoes of this in countless images of the sleeping Venus, exposed and beautiful. Consider how the pose of repose recurs across centuries, from ancient Roman sarcophagi depicting the deceased in eternal sleep to Renaissance paintings of reclining goddesses. The posture of rest becomes a carrier of meaning, shifting from peaceful repose to a confrontation with mortality, highlighting our complex, ever-evolving relationship with rest.