Four ages of man ( Italian. Le quattro età dell'uomo ) - painting by Italian artist Valentin de Boulogne , a Frenchman by birth, which is stored in the National Gallery of London .
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| Valentin de Boulogne | ||
| Four ages of man . about 1629 | ||
| ital Le quattro età dell'uomo | ||
| canvas, oil | ||
| London National Gallery , England , London | ||
| ( Inv. ) | ||
Canvas Description
The plot of “The Four Ages of Man” is known in painting Italy since the Renaissance . There is a similar picture in the Venetian artist Titian .
The plot in the late period of creativity turned and Valentin de Boulogne . Four figures gathered at the table. Each is sketched with real people, this is almost a group portrait. But they are also the personification of different times of human life: childhood is a kid with a toy, youth is a young man with a lute, a knight with a book is maturity, an old man with a glass of wine is old age (a reference to the Italian proverb “wine is milk for old people”).
Twilight illumination and isolation of characters from each other give the picture a philosophical coloring of the transience of life, the transience of time that no one expects.