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Oost, Jacob van, the elder
An Old Man and a Boy: Allegory of the Ages of Man
Around 1645

In this painting the Flemish artist Jacob van Oost has posed a mature model beside a richly dressed boy, creating an unambiguous contrast between sober old age and dapper youth. Light plays sensitively over their features. Both humanist philosophy and religious thought of the seventeenth century encouraged meditation on the unfolding stages of human life and the rapid passage of time.

 
Oost, Jacob van, the elder
Bruges, Belgium around 1601–Bruges, Belgium 1671
An Old Man and a Boy: Allegory of the Ages of Man
Around 1645
Oil on canvas
61.0 x 50.0 cm
Gift of Alfred and Isabel Bader, 2013
56-003.25

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