Four stages of human life: Childhood

Childhood, the first of four stages of human life, is personified in this allegorical painting from around 1717 at the National Museum in Warsaw. Series depicting the ages of man or the seasons of the year were traditional subjects that gave decorative painters the opportunity to create ensembles of related works for aristocratic interiors. The childhood scene — likely depicting children at play in the garden landscape typical of the fête galante — gave Lancret the opportunity to extend his usual subject matter of adult aristocratic leisure toward the representation of innocent play. The Warsaw museum's French paintings entered the collection through the Polish royal and aristocratic patronage that made Warsaw a significant center of French artistic influence in the eighteenth century.

Children at play provide the visual content for this allegory of the first life stage. Lancret renders the youthful figures with the decorative charm characteristic of his style, avoiding the heavy-handed symbolism that could burden allegorical subjects. The outdoor setting and fresh palette create an atmosphere of innocent pleasure appropriate to the childhood theme.