Two semi-nude youths hold a book from which one is reading. On the right, a third youth holds a lute in his hand, and has a viola at his feet. Three nude children complete the scene. The one in the foreground has a swan and a piece of sheet music. A snake wound around a tree in the background completes this allegorical representation whose complex reading alludes to life's pleasures: beauty, music and reading. Its interpretation becomes clearer when seen with its companion The Ages of Man and Death (P02220).

One of the artist's last pieces, this work entered the Royal Collection during the reign of Felipe II.