Still Life with a Skull and a Writing Quill, 1628 Pieter Claesz (Dutch, 1596/97–1660) Oil on wood; 9 1/2 x 14 1/8 in. (24.1 x 35.9 cm) This is one of the earliest dated still lifes by Claesz., a Haarlem painter who gave extraordinary presence to familiar things. Here a skull, an overturned glass roemer with its fleeting reflections, an expired lamp, and the attributes of a writer suggest that worldly efforts are ultimately in vain. http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/works-of-art/49.107