We believe this is a metaphor for death, inasmuch as no one would be caught alive with those headboards today. Obviously, the time is not night; crisp shadows are thrown against the wall from the wide-open window. The couple slumbers, awaiting judgment in the next world. The flowers on the right symbolize eternal life; the empty chair on the left suggests that God has not yet come to judge them, and may never appear. There is nothing but the void.