There is a lengthy inscription which forms a desperate cry which both explains and describes the action depicted in the image. The text includes quotations from Valois, St. Matthew's Gospel and Pascal. It begins, 'God has flown from this world, Ho! ho! ho! What a flight! you cannot dissociate [sic] war and disease from the universal reprobate - God (Antoni Valois) ...'

Provenance

Anthony d'Offay Gallery; private collection; James Hyman Fine Art Ltd.