The image on the previous was taken from a 1594 engraving by Hendrick Golzius. The caption indicates 'Who evades it?' Some of the symbols in the image obviously indicate death. The soap bubbles were often used to indicate life's fleeting and fragile nature.

When travelling in Norway in 1999, I saw a gravestone in a small cemetery near the Medieval center of the city Bergen. The inscription on the back indicates that four small children were buried here around 1700.

Pay attention the next time you see art and portraits from this era. Soap bubbles floating around often indicate that life is fragile.

In relation to some of the images in this web site: through my research, my coworkers and I have shown that soap bubbles and films are not as fragile as commonly believed. We can now make flowing film last for hours,and withstand the insertion of pins, needles, and hands. And to boot, soap films several stories high are now easily made by any of us.

Enjoy the web site.

Maarten Rutgers.