Thinking up titles for artwork can be fun, or a pain in the butt. It's a process I usually enjoy, until I come up against a stumper. Especially since I'm often choosing a title in the wee hours when all I want to do is finish and go to bed. I find I am not satisfied with the title for this piece. OK, it may be folly for a young woman to run around half naked with a snake around her neck--didn't she hear what happened to Cleopatra? But "Folly of Youth" seems kind of a cliche. I can still remember myself that feeling of immortality that young people often exhibit (I was a particularly foolish youth) simply because they are so far away from death, time-wise. This work is another memento mori, but I already used that phrase for a title. So I guess I'll let the current title stand. Though I'll admit, looking at her youthful beauty, that there is probably a good bit of Envious Age going on too.
The painting is Portrait of Simonetta Vespucci by Piero di Cosimo.
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