Trap des ouderdoms 1596 - 1652

Curator: Ah, yes, Claes Jansz. Visscher's "Trap des Ouderdoms," created somewhere between 1596 and 1652. It’s currently held at the Rijksmuseum. The layering of figures here climbing a symbolic staircase feels, well, rather stark. Like a journey, not just through life but also towards… something final. What catches your eye first? Editor: I'm really drawn to the way Visscher visualizes aging as a climb. The figures ascend, then descend. How do you interpret the different stages and symbols in this work? Curator: The genius lies in that ascent and descent, doesn’t it? Notice how youth, with its perceived strength and vitality, is placed higher on the steps? The steps represent the ages of woman and with it all the stations that involve, youth and beauty but inevitably death. It's very Baroque, isn't it, that awareness of fleeting time? Visscher isn't just showing us a portrait gallery, he's making a very poignant commentary on vanity. What about that descent? How does that make you feel? Editor: Seeing them go down reminds me of the inescapable nature of aging, as we see the figures slowly lose their vigor and almost seem to disappear in front of our very eyes. It is hard to look at because is so blunt. Curator: Exactly! That's the beauty and the horror of Baroque allegory. There's an embrace of realism here, the awareness of our mortality. Does the engraving offer any comfort? Any kind of consolation amidst all the inevitable decline? Editor: I think the very bottom scene showing women in the last stage of life could offer a kind of morbid solace by illustrating death as the inevitable outcome, like the ending of the story. I hadn't thought of it that way. Curator: And isn't that what art does best, young padawan? It makes us think.