Sickness cannot touch the deathless, nor old age the ever young before 1865

"Sickness cannot touch the deathless, nor old age the ever young" is an undated print by an anonymous artist. Its imagery evokes classical themes of the eternal, youthful, and divine, reflecting a cultural fascination with immortality that stretches back millennia. The figures depicted—presumably gods or celestial beings—defy the constraints of mortal existence. Gender plays an interesting role here, as classical depictions of immortality often feature youthful male figures, subtly reinforcing societal ideals of male strength and permanence. However, by not gendering the figures and obscuring their identities the artist asks questions about the supposed binary of life and death. There's an emotional resonance in the depiction of beings untouched by decay, a yearning for escape from the inevitable. This image perhaps reflects a deep-seated human desire to transcend our physical limitations. It challenges us to consider our own conceptions of aging, mortality, and the narratives we construct around them.