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This set of paintings on the five senses (Sight, Hearing, Smell, Taste, Touch) was one of the most successful collaborations of Peter Paul Rubens and Jan Brueghel “the elder.” Rubens 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 i
This forest corresponds to one of the typologies that Jan Brueghel the Elder pioneered around 1605 and that he developed over the course of that decade. The painting depicts a well-travelled path through a forest, leading to a village discernible on the horizon. A small stream crosses the path. The painter intends for the viewer to experience the interior of the forest, thus offering several possi
An elaborate garland of flowers, fruit and animals frames a painting representing the Virgin Mary with the Christ Chile on her right arm and a crown of flowers in her left hand. Paintings of the Virgin framed with garlands were prized in the Flemish world, where they served as a response to the Protestant Reform that negated the validity of representations of the Virgin or of saints. Brueghel resp
This set of paintings on the five senses (Sight, Hearing, Smell, Taste, Touch) was one of the most successful collaborations of Peter Paul Rubens and Jan Brueghel “the Elder”. Rubens 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 i
Alberto de Austria, the sovereign prince of the Low Countries, is dressed in black and sits under a canopy indicating that this is a court portrait. Unlike the customary indoor portraits, this one is set on a balcony open to a landscape that includes Tervuren Palace, near Brussels. This portrait, and that of his wife, Isabel Clara (P01684), seeks not only to bring out the figure of the Archduke, b
This set of paintings on the five senses was one of the most successful collaborations of Peter Paul Rubens and Jan Brueghel “the Elder”. Rubens 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. Sight was consider
A group of travelers stop to rest, sitting together in the road. One of them speaks to a muleskinner, who leads a caravan of loaded mules. A very broad landscape unfolds on the left. In this painting, Brueghel offers one of his views with figures, but without any defined plot. He reveals his debt to the landscape ideas of Joost de Romper (1568-1625) by placing the figures at a bend in the road and
A wedding procession moves towards the church in a rural setting. The male members of both families lead the procession, headed by the groom. The flower in his hand is clearly a symbol of matrimony. The bride remains among the women. Both wear black clothing and a broad ruff collar, in keeping with early seventeenth-century style. The artist draws on the work of his father, Pieter Brueghel “the El
In this painting, Ceres, goddess of agriculture and fertility, is surrounded by fruits and flowers, pictured as the personification of Abundance holding the horn of plenty in her hands. The history of the horn of plenty is taken from two texts by the Roman poet Ovid (43 BCE-CE 17/18), Metamorphoses (IX, 80-100) and Book of Days (V, 121-24). The idea of prosperity is completed by the personificatio
This canvas and its companion, Taste, Hearing and Touch (P1404), represent the five senses embodied by female figures in palatial interiors. The sense of smell is conveyed by a woman holding flowers, while Sight contemplates herself in a mirror held by a cherub. They are located in a hall filled with paintings and sculptures, a sort of cabinet of paintings that could reflect an idealized represent
The pendant of Country Wedding (P01441) shows the banquet that follows the wedding procession. The bride sits under a straw canopy at the center of the scene, which Brueghel sets under four leafy trees, revealing the great importance he gave to landscapes. The presence of the Archduke Alberto de Austria and the Infanta Isabel Clara Eugenia, then governors of the Low Countries, makes this work an i
The dinner guests occupying the center of the composition symbolize the senses. Music and the singing children are hearing, and the young woman petting a mink is touch. The young woman preparing to eat some oysters symbolizes taste, while the monkey pulling on a cupid´s hair also symbolizes touch. Of equal significance are the animals and paintings in the room. The Annunciation on the top of the c
This excellent example of the collaboration between Brueghel and Momper depicts simple rural life in Flanders, joining the genre of landscape painting with that of everyday life. The groups of figures were made by Brueghel, while Momper painted the landscape, with his characteric violet tonalities in the background. Here, Momper abandons his broad panoramas in favor of a more realistic perspective
This set of paintings on the five senses (Sight, Hearing, Smell, Taste, Touch) was one of the most successful collaborations of Peter Paul Rubens and Jan Brueghel “the Elder”. Rubens 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 i
Mary holds the Christ Child in one arm, holding one of his feet with the other. Behind them, two angels look on. One looks at the viewer in a request for silence and reflection upon the image. The scene is framed by an abundant garland of flowers. This work is the result of a collaboration between Jan Brueghel, who made one of his most exuberant floral works, and Giulio Cesare Procaccini. It was p
Like the portrait of her husband (P01683), Isabel Clara Eugenia, ruler of the Low Countries, is depicted sitting under a red canopy on a balcony open to landscape. In this case, the palace visible in the distance is Mariemont, one of the Infanta´s favorites, which she had remodeled. The style of her clothing, especially the collar, date this work from the beginning of the second decade of the seve
