Compare the ages of man and woman - move your mouse up and down over the image to scroll through the print
Amman’s woodcuts of the Ten Ages of Men and Women are fitting ornamentation for a calendar. The illustrations of progressively aging men along the left side of the sheet and aging women along the right side of the sheet are a brutal reminder of the passage of time. The male and female figures range from childhood through old age and are accompanied by animals that characterize their ages. A lion attends a youthful man, suggesting his strength, while a peacock accompanies a youthful woman, signaling her beauty and vanity. Further on, an owl represents the wisdom of an older woman, while a mule represents the folly of an older man. The final panel in each sequence illustrates the elderly figures’ encounter with Death.
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