Wlastimil Hofman (1881 Prague - 1970 Szklarska Poreba), Sands of Time, 1922.

oil, canvas, 45.5 × 63 cm
Signed and dated l. d.: "Wlastimil Hofman 1922"

"In the face of a person is reflected as in a mirror the whole inner life. One can easily read everything from it: wisdom, stupidity, happiness, pain, suffering, envy, hope, longing, misery and affluence."
Wlastimil Hofman, quoted in M. Czapska-Michalik, "Wlastimil Hofman (1881-1970)", Warsaw 2007, p. 34.

"The type of allegory used by Hofman is a reworking of the Vanitas motif, which was revived in literature and art at the beginning of the 20th century (...) In Hofman's work, the thought of death is transformed into a kind of melancholy reverie and quiet resignation. A man approaching the end of his life never remains alone; the child accompanying him in such moments plays the role of an intermediary on the path of final reconciliation with God and reconciliation with destiny. This is the sense and meaning of all paintings with this theme. Whether in these scenes or in genre paintings with figures of an old man and a child, the child always plays the role of a caring angel."
E. Wolniewicz-Mierzwińska, "Wlastimil Hofman - works up to 1939", [in:] "Works or kitsch", ed. E. Grabska and T. S. Jaroszewski, Warsaw 1981, p. 412