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Nicolas Lancret, 'The Four Ages of Man: Youth', about 1733-4

About the work

Overview

This is the third of Lancret’s series of paintings depicting The Four Ages of Man and represents Youth (La Jeunesse).

Three pairs of lovers embrace one another in a woodland glade. In the foreground, two archers are engaged in a game of ‘pape-guay’, which involves shooting at an imitation bird (usually a parrot) placed on top of a long pole. The two apparently unattached women watching in the background might be read as the targets for the arrows aimed by the archers, as arrows are associated with Cupid, the god of love.

Usually the third subject of The Four Ages of Man is maturity, represented by settled married couples. We do not know why Lancret instead chose to represent this scene of young playful lovers. Such encounters in woodland settings had become a popular theme in art, inspired in particular by the paintings of Watteau and prints after them.

Key facts

Details

Full title
The Four Ages of Man: Youth
Artist dates
1690 - 1743
Part of the series
The Four Ages of Man
Date made
about 1733-4
Medium and support
oil on canvas
Dimensions
34.3 × 45.2 cm
Acquisition credit
Bequeathed by Lt-Col John Harvey Ollney, 1837
Inventory number
NG103
Location
Not on display
Collection
Main Collection

About this record

If you know more about this painting or have spotted an error, please contact us. Please note that exhibition histories are listed from 2009 onwards. Bibliographies may not be complete; more comprehensive information is available in the National Gallery Library.

Images

About the series: The Four Ages of Man

Overview

Lancret treats the traditional subject of The Four Ages of Man as a series of contemporary genre scenes – Childhood, Adolescence, Youth and Old Age.

In Childhood (L'Enfance), a group of wealthy children play boisterous games in an open-air loggia watched by their nurse and governess. In Adolescence (L’Adolescence), a young woman admires herself in a mirror while her hair is decorated with ribbons and flowers. Instead of depicting the third age as a time of maturity and showing a middle-aged married couple, Lancret paints several pairs of lovers in a woody glade, and entitles the picture Youth (La Jeunesse). In Old Age (La Vieillesse), he dispenses with the usual depiction of old people warming themselves indoors before an open fire to take the scene outdoors.

The set was engraved in reverse by Nicolas de Larmessin III in 1735. Most of the numerous painted copies were copied from the prints and are also shown in reverse.

Works in the series

This is the first of Lancret’s series of paintings depicting The Four Ages of Man.Ten wealthy children, a baby, a nurse and a governess are outside in a tiled neoclassical loggia. Two of the children are being taught to read by the governess, while the others are playing boisterous games. A boy a...
Not on display
This is the second of Lancret’s series of paintings depicting The Four Ages of Man and represents Adolescence (L'Adolescence).A young lady stands in the centre of the painting in a grand circular room with tall windows. She admires herself in the mirror held up by a young page while her hair is d...
Not on display
This is the third of Lancret’s series of paintings depicting The Four Ages of Man and represents Youth (La Jeunesse).Three pairs of lovers embrace one another in a woodland glade. In the foreground, two archers are engaged in a game of ‘pape-guay’, which involves shooting at an imitation bird (us...
Not on display
This is the fourth and final painting in Lancret’s series of The Four Ages of Man, entitled Old Age (La Vieillesse). Lancret dispensed with the usual depiction of old people warming themselves indoors before an open fire to take the scene outdoors. A young woman rejects an old man’s advances whil...
Not on display