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Age

Recently I made one of my regular visits to London's National Gallery, to the Rembrandts. I sat in front of one particular late self portrait for some time, painted in the year before the artist died. After a while, two young men stood and quite knowledgeably discussed the painting, saying how photography never does such works justice. Then one remarked on the sadness in the face, saying that as an old man without money you would expect him to look this way, sad and regretful....

Well, I piped up, he was the same age as I am now when he painted this, and I should tell you that I see more than those things in his face, much more, but then you'd need the 63 years to understand that.

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Uploaded on February 3, 2013
Taken on February 3, 2013