Enfilade

From Reaktion Books, with distribution by The University of Chicago Press:

Larry Silver, Old Age in Art (London: Reaktion, 2025), 208 pages, ISBN: 978-1836390527, £20 / $30.

Old Age in Art shows how elders have been depicted from ancient Greece and Rome to the present century. The book explores portraits, including self-portraits, and stories of older figures in religion, myth, and history, focusing on the theme of wisdom versus folly. Larry Silver also discusses the concept of old age within the Middle Ages and early modern periods. The final chapter examines how renowned artists like Michelangelo, Titian, and Monet turned to experimental forms and new subjects in their later years. This book provides a comprehensive overview of old age in European art history.

Larry Silver is the Farquhar Professor Emeritus of History of Art at the University of Pennsylvania and a specialist in Dutch and Flemish paintings. He has published numerous monographs and exhibition catalogues, including Rembrandt’s Holland (Reaktion, 2018).

c o n t e n t s

Preface: Ars longa, vita brevis
1  Old Age Is Relative: Age and Stage as Concepts from Antiquity to the Renaissance
2  Wisdom and Folly
3  Old Age Stories
4  Portraits – Self and Others
5  Old-Age Style

References
Bibliography
Acknowledgements
Photo Acknowledgements
Index