On-line gallery
- Reference number
- P01396
- Author
- Brueghel “the Elder”, Jan (Flemish), Reubens, Peter Paul (Flemish)
- Title
- Smell
- Chronology
- Ca. 1617
- Technique
- Support
- Measures
- 65 cm x 109 cm
- School
- Theme
- Shown
- Yes
- Entrance
- COLECCIONREAL
- Procedence
- Royal Collection
This set of paintings on the five
senses was one of the most
successful collaborations of Peter
Paul Reubens and Jan Brueghel “the
elder.”
Reubens placed his figures in the
magnificent courtly scenes created
by Brueghel as settings for these
allegories of the senses, resulting
in a series of enormous quality and
esthetic appeal. The subject was
widely employed in Flemish
painting.
The figures of Venus and Cupid
stand out in a paradisiacal orchard
with a variety of flowers,
including lilies, roses, hollyhocks
and tulips.
This garden is a testimony to the
Flemish love of flowers, a passion
shared with Isabel Clara Eugenia,
who ordered the planting of an
enormous number of flowers and
fruit trees evocative of her
homeland.
Their fragrance triumphs over the
disagreeable smell of the civet cat
curled up next to Venus. Not even
the fine nose of the dog notices
its presence.
It is signed on the lower edge, at
the right.
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