Paolo Vincenzo Bonomini – Allegory of Death (The Grim Reaper), 19h century.

In the present painting the traditional symbolism of vanitas, portraying the reality of death as a momento mori, has been depicted with an exuberant playfulness. A grinning head is attached to an animated skeletal corpus, shunning the customary representation of a skull, while the skeleton, complete with his jauntily cocked knee, seems to be resting before continuing on his way. The hourglass, still quite full of sand, is carelessly held while the skeleton perches on a broken column holding a scythe.