Alter

is translated as "Old Age," and was the title of an exhibition at the Graphic Arts Collection of Freiburg's Augustinermuseum. This was last year, but Red Baron only reports today.

Was I hesitating? In the meantime, I became 90 and surely experienced the aging process.

The stages of a man's life

While visiting the exhibitions at the Graphics Art Gallery, I took many photos. The works I feature in this blog are of high artistic quality or have personally impressed me. Interestingly, both criteria often apply.

Johann Heinrich Lipps's four portraits of the English poet John Milton, 1779

John Milton, through the ages, is another example of the stages in a man's life. This print first appeared in 1781 in Johann Kasper's Fragments on Lavater's Physiognomy, in which the author instructs readers to attribute particular character traits to specific facial features and body shapes.

Here is a print from 1498, the late Middle Ages, when people were deeply rooted in their faith. Life is a pilgrimage, rosary in his right hand. Barefoot and looking toward heaven, the frail old man, leaning on a walking stick, moves forward cautiously.

Albrecht Dürer, Paul the Apostle, 1514

The master created a copperplate engraving depicting the apostle as a wise old man...

©Immanuel Giel/Wikipedia

... and here is Dürer's 1526 oil painting showing St. Mark and St. Paul holding the Bible. It looks like Mark still doesn't trust that Saul had changed into Paul. In Acts 15, 36-41, their relation is highly compromised: "36 Some time later, Paul said to [his longtime confidant] Barnabas, "Let us go back and visit the believers in all the towns where we preached the word of the Lord and see how they are doing." 37 Barnabas wanted to take John, also called Mark, with them, 38 but Paul did not think it wise to take him, because he had deserted them in Pamphylia and had not continued with them in the work. 39 They had such a sharp disagreement that they parted company. Barnabas took Mark and sailed for Cyprus, 40, but Paul chose Silas and left, commended by the believers to the grace of the Lord. 41 He went through Syria and Cilicia, strengthening the churches."

Engraving after Holbein by an unknown artist, 1521

It is a common stereotype that some old men are wise, but all are frail and obstinate, which certainly applies to Erasmus of Rotterdam, and he was quarrelsome, too, a real grouch.

Johann Wilhelm Baur, Old Age, around 1670

Skulls, hourglasses, and fading flowers symbolize life's impermanence: Memento mori.

You, good old man, the grave is already open here and longs for you.

The hourglass of your time has nearly run out. 

Just put your house in order and send yourself to death. 

It will soon be over for you.

Old age is joyless, full of listlessness and ailments.

To young children, it is a source of mockery and a burden upon the earth.

In this second stage of childhood, indeed, everything in the world is consumed by old age:
trees, houses, buildings, and paintings.

Crispyn de Passe, Susanna in the Bath, and the two Old Men around 1600

If they are frail, non obstat, that they are still lechers.

Behold Susanna, thrice fortunate, blessed with offspring,
she who is no less mindful of her pure chastity,
suffers the schemes of shameful old men who desire her,
while she believes she is washing her limbs in the flowing water

Benjamin Vautier, Deaf, but smart, before 1884

Two men converse by a tiled stove. The older, nearly toothless man has made himself comfortable in a wingback chair and leans forward to better hear the younger man, who has moved closer, apparently seeking the older man's advice.

Hans Thoma, Old Mountain Man, 1892

This engraving was part of a Hans Thoma Exhibition at the Augustinermuseum in 2025. No, this is not Saint Paul, but the baldness of the figure suggests a learned, wise old man

Albert Welti, The Ages of Man, 1901

This picture is based on Welti's painting, The House of Dreams. It depicts people of different generations who are focused on themselves rather than communicating with one another. How modern. Even without the Internet and Social Media, this family lives together but doesn't communicate with each other. The mountain panorama reveals that Welti is Swiss.

Käthe Kollwitz, Self-portrait, 1924

Käthe Kollwitz is known for her somber, at times disturbingly realistic works that situate her between Realism and Expressionism. Based on her personal circumstances and experiences, she developed her distinctive artistic style. Her most famous self-portrait reflects a period of personal crisis in which she was acutely aware of her aging and her waning physical strength. In 1924, Kollwitz drew herself with shadowed, pronounced bags under her eyes, appearing tired and exhausted, grappling with the death of her son.

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