This painting (originally intended to remind the viewer of the inevitability of death) depicts a young woman wearing an extravagant, fashionable Elizabethan gown alongside an older man in a fur-edged garment and cloak. When Shakespeare’s plays were first staged at the turn of the 17^th century, players performed in the clothing of the day. It is likely that garments similar to those featuring in this painting were worn on the stages of London’s first purpose-built playhouses.

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