12:00 PM In Dominicus van Tol’s charming “niche” painting, two young children are blowing soap bubbles at a stone window ledge. The playful scene, however, has a deeper meaning. The fragile bubbles symbolize the transience of life, a theme reinforced by the skull and hourglass placed on the mantelpiece in the background. Caroline Van Cauwenberge’s 12-minute talk on Van Tol’s Children Blowing Bubbles at a Window will focus on pictorial motifs used by the artist and the symbolic meaning behind them. Caroline Van Cauwenberge is the curatorial associate and digital content coordinator at The Leiden Collection, where she contributes to research on the collection and manages projects surrounding the online Leiden Collection Catalogue. Previously, she held positions at David Tunick, Inc., and TEFAF New York. She received her BA in art history from the KU Leuven in 2016 and her MA in art history, focusing on Netherlandish art, from the Courtauld Institute of Art in 2017.