The impeccably groomed young woman glances up questioningly at an older woman in dark clothing. The lady’s facial expression is clear to see in the mirror before her. The painter has imbued the scene with deeper meaning, for the mirror signifies vanity and the transience of life. The message conveyed here is that beauty and youth will ultimately fade. Subject is Gesina ter Borch, sister of the artist. https://www.rijksmuseum.nl/en/collection/SK-A-4039 One of the most peculiar ‘mirror work’ of him is the painting unpretentiously called ‘Woman in front of a mirror‘ (c.1652). To my knowledge, this is one of the very few paintings by ter Borch that shows ‘mirror at work’, i.e., we see it reflecting the figure of woman. And it does so not only in a very beautifully and powerful way, but very innovatively, too. This is the case of a ‘mirror cocoon’, an intensive and immersive experience that emerges when a person look at the mirror – only here no one directly stares at this very mirror! The mirror that nobody looks at is nevertheless a central element of the painting – partly because we see a reflection of a pretty face there, but also because it acts as a nod of all other gazes between the figures in this scene. It’s also quite a different mirror compare to the previous ones – it’s bigger, and its frame doesn’t have any ‘doors’ or ‘shutters’. (https://artmirrorsart.wordpress.com/2013/09/10/ter-borch-an-elective-affinitty-of-mirrors-and-brothels/)