The Hour Glass

What does The Hour Glass show?

The seated woman wears a russet gown sewn with pearls, beneath a pale shawl and jeweled headdress. A white lock shows in her dark hair. Behind her, patterned tapestries fill the room with figures and color; beside her, the hourglass marks time without interruption.

A fallen rose and a closed book lie near her feet. The book’s Latin inscription, Mors Janua Vitae, presents death as the gateway to life. Through the open doorway, a winged figure in blue plays a pipe among flowering branches.

The De Morgan Foundation dates the painting to 1904–1905. Its record preserves the artist’s sister’s reading of the musician as immortal life. The room’s stillness and the spring light outside hold mortality and hope within the same picture.

What does Psalm 90:12 mean?

Psalm 90 sets the brevity of human life beside God’s enduring presence. Its images include passing days and grass that grows and fades. Verse 12 asks God to teach us how to reckon with that brevity so that wisdom can take root in the heart.

The prayer continues by asking for compassion, joy, and God’s favor upon human work. Numbering our days belongs within that larger hope. De Morgan’s painting is an allegory rather than an illustration of the psalm; the hourglass makes its question tangible: how shall we live within the time we have?

The hand resting on the hourglass gives visible form to Psalm 90:12’s request to understand our days and grow wise within them.

Sources

De Morgan Foundation — The Hourglass. Collection record P_EDM_0036, the signed date, image, and the artist’s sister’s interpretation.

Psalm 90 — Berean Standard Bible. The complete psalm and the context of the paired verse.