The Knight's Dream

1650 · Museo de la Real Academia de San Fernando, Madrid

still-life

The repertoire of objects in a vanitas still-life is confined to external power symbols: crowns - including the papal tiara and mitres, as well as kingly crowns - and a knight's armour were always part of such still-lifes, as was the globe as a symbol of worldwide expansion and a craving for conquests. These 'elements of vanity' are of central importance in this painting by Pereda. A young nobleman has fallen asleep in an armchair on the left, his head, pale with sleep, supported by one hand.

Loading map…

About the Artist

Antonio de Pereda

1611 – 1678

Spanish painter, active mainly in Madrid. He began as a history painter - his Relief of Genoa (Prado, Madrid, 1635) was painted for the Buen Retiro Palace in Madrid as part of the same series as Velázquez 's Surrender of Breda - but he is now best known for his still-lifes. The most famous painting associated with him is The Knight's Dream (also called The Dream of Life or Life is a Dream, Academy, Madrid, c. 1650), a splendidly sensuous composition, full of brilliantly painted still-life details, in which worldly pleasures and treasures are seen to be as insubstantial as a dream. It was a key work in the development of the moralizing still-life in Spain, influencing Valdés Leal in particular. However, the attribution to Pereda has recently been questioned, and Francisco de Palacios (1622/5-52) has been suggested as the author.

View all works →