Quoc’s vanitas portrait is an allegory in a the most classical tradition of vanitas. The blonde youth with a flower wreath on his head is a classical symbol for spring, summer, youth and life itself. In summer, however, as in life, there is always the moment in which the sun has reached it’s peak and the seasons, or again life, move towards winter, or death. Quoc elegantly captures the moment in which youth realises it’s mortality. The portrait turns darker, the closer you come near it. The flowers are already starting to decay and the youthful blonde face is showing the first traces of a skull.
The sadness of the face in realising the approaching fall and winter also hints at a broader vanitas theme, both pagan and Christian, that we should not spend the summer (of our life) playing and giving into our senses, but that we should work (or be pious) to profit in winter (in death, the afterlife).
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