In the center is a female figure in a domestic scene. The grandparents sing loudly from a songbook, the father blows powerfully on a bagpipe. The little ones do their best too: the baby sits on mother's lap and blows his rattle whistle, the big brother plays a recorder close to grandfather. The greyhound listens with pricked ears. At the top of the cartouche, one can read the proverb mentioned in the emblem book of Jacob Cats Spiegel van den old en nieuwenijd (1632). It was very popular in the Low Countries of the seventeenth century because of the many references in literature and visual arts. Jacob Jordaens made the first depiction of this proverb (1638). It is literally stated here: the young imitate the elderly. The old man is probably Adam Van Noort's teacher and father-in-law of Jordaens. Perhaps the bagpipe player is Jordaens himself, but that is not very certain. (Els Mar�chal Museum Book)
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