Light and Sight in ter Brugghen’s Man Writing by Candlelight

Abstract

Ter Brugghen's Man Writing by Candlelight is commonly seen as a vanitas tronie of an old man with a flickering candle.Reconsideration of the figure's age and activity raises another possibility, for the image's pointed connection between light and sight and the fact that the figure has just signed the artist's signature and is now completing the date suggests that ter Brugghen-like others who elevated the role of the artist in his period-was more interested in conveying the enduring aliveness of the artistic process and its outcome than in reminding the viewer about the transience of life.

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