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
Saint Francis´s sermon to the birds is one of the most popular episodes from his life. In his biography of that saint (chapter XXI, 58), Celano narrates the event that occurred near Menavia in the Espoleto Valley, when Saint Francis addressed the birds, praising them for their divine goodness in relation to their existence.