“The Last Drop” is an artwork by Judith Leyster, a Dutch artist, created circa 1629 during the Baroque period. This genre painting, rendered on canvas using oil medium, measures approximately 89 by 73.7 centimeters. The artwork exemplifies the Baroque style and is currently housed at the Philadelphia Museum of Art in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States.
The artwork depicts a compelling scene involving two figures and a skeleton. On the left, one figure is tilting his head back, poised to drink the last drop from a glass, while another figure, attired in red with a jovial demeanor, gestures animatedly with a smoking pipe in one hand. The central subject, a skeleton, stands erect between them, dangling an empty glass from its bony fingers, suggesting a connection to the transience of life and the concept of memento mori. The trio is set against a neutral background that throws the focus onto their vividly painted forms. The playful yet macabre tableau is rich with allegorical meaning, a characteristic of genre paintings that often served as moral lessons during the Baroque era.
