Allegory of the Five Senses

1640 · Private collection

mythological

In this allegory the five senses are represented as a merry company. Hearing is embodied by the playing musicians, Taste by the flagons of wine, Sight by the lovers gazing into each other's eyes, Smell by the dog or pipe smoke, and Touch by both the central girl's contact with the musical instrument and the contact between the lovers to her left. The pyramidal, Mannerist composition, the rich colours and elegant twisting figures are all motifs typical of De Vos' work.

About the Artist

Simon de Vos

1603 – 1676

Flemish painter. In 1615 he became a pupil of Cornelis de Vos (no relation), with whom Jan Cossiers may have been a fellow-apprentice. By 1620 de Vos was a master in the Antwerp Guild of St Luke. For the next eight years he may either have worked in Rubens 's studio or have travelled abroad . The latter is more likely in view of the similarities between de Vos's oeuvre and that of Johann Liss, who was in Rome and Venice at that time. This hypothesis is supported by the italianizing characteristics evident in de Vos's early work.

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