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 representation of the collections of the Archduke Albert and Archduchess Isabella Clara Eugenia de Austria (1

In addition to major battles and lengthy sieges, seventeenth-century warfare also involved small skirmishes which affected the civil population. Sebastian Vrancx, whose initials appear on the rump of the dapple-grey horse in the foreground, painted the figures in this scene and Jan Brueghel the Younger the landscape.

At the time this painting was executed the palace of Coudenberg was the seat of the court of the Archduke Albert and the Archduchess Isabel Clara Eugenia in Brussels. This lively depiction of the palace and its surroundings was painted by artists in their service.