Old Age 1636

Editor: Here we have "Old Age," an etching by Abraham Bosse, created in 1636. It's teeming with detail, and the more I look, the darker it seems. I’m particularly struck by the skeleton perched atop the clock! What are your thoughts when you look at this print? Curator: Well, that skeleton winking from the clock is certainly a great place to start! To me, it sets a tone: it is as if the scene's domestic tranquility, a seemingly standard genre scene, is always framed by an awareness of our own mortality. These folks are attempting to keep warm – physically with the fire, perhaps socially through conversation and connection. Notice, too, the presence of animals… the small cat, warming itself. And is that a pampered poodle, indifferent to the broader implications of the composition? Everything decays. Nothing can stop the remorseless hand on the clock. It is a bitter picture, certainly. What do you think about the fashion choices? Editor: The high-waisted gowns seem rather elegant, even…out of touch? With that ghastly figure hanging out in the corner? It's as though they're trying to distract themselves from the inevitable. Is that what you get out of it? Curator: That's an excellent way to phrase it! I would agree. It’s that very tension between the everyday and the eternal, or the beautiful and the grotesque, that Bosse is playing with, isn't it? A true baroque contrast. It's almost…comforting in its blunt honesty. There's an honesty here that I rather admire. Editor: I definitely see it differently now, knowing there is this theme of the “inevitable”. At first I wasn't too excited about the aesthetic but there is an intentionality that you can start to appreciate. Curator: Exactly. A reminder to us all to perhaps examine how *we* face our ticking clocks.