Quatuor Mundi Ætates: Ætas Aurea, Ætas Argentea, Ætas Ænea, Ætas Ferrea

Tobias Verhaecht was a Flemish painter, draughtsman, and print designer best known for his imaginative landscape compositions. Designed by Verhaecht, engraved by Jan Collaert II, and published by Theodor Galle in 1638, this series of four engravings illustrates the classical succession of the Ages of Man described by Ovid in the Metamorphoses.

The four scenes represent the Golden, Silver, Bronze, and Iron Ages. Each engraving places human activity within an expansive landscape and traces the gradual decline of humanity from innocence and abundance to labour, conflict, and moral corruption. In the Golden Age, people live in harmony with nature under the rule of Saturn. The Silver Age introduces agriculture, labour, and the ordering of time through the seasons. The Bronze Age depicts exploration, commerce, territorial division, and the emergence of warfare. The Iron Age culminates in violence, greed, fraud, and the collapse of virtue.

Accompanying Latin verses by Laurens Beyerlinck summarise the characteristics of each age, reinforcing the moral progression from harmony to disorder. Together, the four sheets form a visual meditation on human history and the perceived decline of civilisation from an ideal beginning to a world dominated by conflict and material ambition.