Lebenstreppe

A Lebenstreppe or Stufenalter (German: "steps of life" or "stages of life") is a pictorial representation of the human life as a series of ascending and descending steps. The tradition began in fifteenth-century Europe and many hundreds of variations were produced until the early twentieth century, though the popularity of the tradition waned during the nineteenth century.^[1] The most common variation depicts ten steps each representing ten years, with the peak at fifty.^[2][3][4][5] Parodic versions have been created for satiric, moralistic, and advertising purposes.

• 
  "Das Stufenalter des Mannes". Verlag Gustav May Söhne, Frankfurt, c. 1900.
• 
  James Baillie, 1848. "The Life and age of man, stages of man's life from the cradle to the grave".
• 
  Unknown Spanish artist, c. 1750
• 
  Nathaniel Currier, c. 1846. "The Drunkard's Progress: from the first glass to the grave". Lithograph in support of the temperance movement.