The Three Ages of Man is here treated in an almost religious sense, with the three ages represented by the idea of the Trinity - three distinct persons who are in a sense one. Unlike the theological Trinity which is co-eternal, this trinity of old man, son and child is very much rooted in time - in the present, the past and the future.

The symbolism is direct, yet enigmatic, with the very landscape of foreground, middleground and background blending each into the other like the three central figures whose lives impinge each into the other : the landscape like these three human beings is one.

The father and child are one, in tactile contact, like the earth and the sea, rooted in the present, with the child clutching an apple - a desirable object which symbolises the child’s aspirations, hence his future : the old man is the real enigma; he is part of, yet distinct from, the other two figures, as he peers into - what? his future? his past? or the great unknown represented by the sky ?