Size: 39.5 × 59cm
This enormous room full of cobwebs, paintings, antique objects and mirrors holds the
rotten wedding cake of Miss Havisham, which is visible to the right of herself. Miss
Havisham was touring the room holding on the shoulder of Pip (to her left), when some
of her relatives entered the room to wish her good health and to try to outbid each other
in trying to win Miss Havisham favour. On the very right Estella is watching herself in
a looking glass, while Miss Havisham rebukes her grudging relatives and tells them were
they will sit at her burial by pointing on the place around the table with her walking stick.
This gigantic illustration filled with innumerable little details took me five weeks to
complete. It is so full of details, that the main theme gets almost lost in the big confu-
sion. The viewer is invited to roam the walls for famous paintings and ponder on their
connection to the principal scene.
If you’re to good for working it out by yourself, here’s a quick walkthrough: Start-
ing from the left, above Pip’s head you can see a giant painting, which is a copy of the
three ages of the woman by Hans Baldung Grien (16th century). It shows the decaying
and the fugacity of life on earth, such as can also be seen in Miss Havisham dressing in
her bridal dress, despite being an old crone.
Going right and past the threefold mirror three paintings are displayed in a vertical
line. The uppermost is a copy of Laments of the Clock by Jean-Baptiste Greuze and
shows a sad looking woman holding a clock and waiting in vain for her lover to appear.
Again, much like Miss Havisham who waited for her bridegroom on their wedding day
and in a certain sense waits still till today by refusing to acknowledge the passing of time.
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