A smiling girl, seemingly aged around ten, looks out at the viewer, fully engaging our attention. Her relaxed pose contrasts with the rigid conventions of portraiture of this period. The figure is surprisingly similar to the naked girl that represents Beauty in the painting Time defeated by Hope and Beauty by the same artist, also on display in this gallery, in which she seems older, thus proving the two different dates of these works. Vouet painted this portrait during his Roman period, which e

Saturn, who represents Time in Roman mythology, has fallen beside his attributes, a scythe and an hourglass. Beauty -possibly a portrait of the painter´s wife, Virginia da Vezzo- olds him by the hear, blandishing a lance over him, while Hope threatens him with a hook, her iconographic symbol, and three cupids pluck the feathers from his wings. Time is defied by Love, which is a reversal of their traditional roles. The representation of Time was constant during the Baroque era, when it was an ima

This almost family scene shows the Christ Child and Saint John embracing each other while their respective mothers, Mary and Elizabeth, look on. The moment is witnessed by Saint Catherine, who accompanies them. She is leaning on a large wooden wheel, which symbolizes her martyrdom. The Lamb in the lower left corner alludes to the Passion of Christ and saddens the moment with its announcement of his destiny. On the right, the landscape is framed by a classical ruin adorned with a low relief. The