Boys Blowing Bubbles

Date1640s

Attributed to Michaelina Wautier Flemish, 1604 - 1689

Label TextA boy blows bubbles with a straw as his friend tries to catch one in his hat. The bubble-a perfect orb which can pop at any moment-is a familiar symbol of the fragility and brevity of life. To enforce the point, the artist includes a snuffed-out candle and an hourglass in the background. The open book and half-hidden musical instrument may refer to the idea that art outlasts life, which of course is part of the point of the painting itself.

Object number58.140

ProvenanceMiss S. Morant and Miss V. E. Morant, England; [David M. Koetser Gallery, New York, by 1958]; purchased by Seattle Art Museum (funds from Floyd A. Naramore), 1958

Exhibition HistoryLondon, Burlington Gallery, Royal Academy, Winter Exhibition, Flemish Exhibition 1953-1954, cat. no. 468. Walla Walla, Washington, Whitman College, The Olin Humanities Building Dedication Show, 1972. Cat. no. 49 (exh. cat. p. 16). Bellevue, Washington, Bellevue Art Museum, 5,000 Years Of Faces, January 28 - July 30, 1983. Seattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, Seattle Art Museum Permanent Collection Installation, 1995 - 1998. Raleigh, North Carolina, North Carolina Museum of Art, Sinners and Saints, Darkness and Light: Caravaggio and his Dutch and Flemish Followers in America, September 29 - December 13, 1998 (Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Milwaukee Art Museum, January 29 - April 18, 1999; Dayton, Ohio, Dayton Art Institute, May 8 - July 18, 1999). Antwerp, Belgium, Museem aan de Stroom, Michaelina - The Leading Lady of the Baroque, June 1 - September 2, 2018. Vienna, Austria, Kunsthistoriches Museum, Michaelina Wautier Painter, September 30, 2025 - February 22, 2026 (London, England, Royal Academy of Arts, March 27 - June 21, 2026). Edited by Gerlinde Gruber, Katlijne Van der Stighlene, and Julien Domerq. Cat no. 30, pp. 40-42, 151, fig. 19.Published ReferencesThe Art Quarterly vol. 21, no. 4 (Winter 1958): reproduced on cover (detail, attributed to Jakob van Oost). Van der Stighelen, Katlijne. Michaelina Wautier: Glorifying a Forgotten Talent 1604 - 1689. Exh. Cat. Antwerp: Museum aan de Stroom, 2018; p. 221, 239, 245, reproduced cat. 19 [not in exhibition].

Credit LineGift of Mr. Floyd Naramore

Dimensions35 5/8 x 47 3/4 in. (90.5 x 121.3 cm)

MediumOil on canvas