Like many of Pier Francesco Mola’s caricatures, this example has both universal and personal aspects. The man lying in bed, contemplating a skull and hourglass, can be understood as an Allegory of Time, of life passing and the inevitability of death. In this case, based on inscriptions in other drawings by Mola, the man can be identified. Niccolò Simonelli (1611–1671), a connoisseur and collector, was a friend and supporter of Mola, but he was also a famously difficult personality. There is surely a backstory to the drawing, but the precise events that engendered it are unknown.
Pier Francesco Mola (1612–1666), Allegory of the Passage of Time, ca. 1660. Pen and brown ink, 6 1/16 x 10 1/8 inches (155 x 258 mm). Gift of János Scholz, 1985.92.