CODART Canon

The Five Senses

Jan Brueghel the Elder, 1617 — 1618
Museo Nacional del Prado, Madrid

Collaboration between painters with different specialties was a common practice in the Spanish Netherlands in the early seventeenth century, and The Five Senses is one of the most successful examples. In this series, Peter Paul Rubens created the female personifications of the five senses, accompanied by a putto or a satyr, and Jan Brueghel the Elder created the magnificent settings. The subject of the five senses was widely addressed in Flemish painting, but this series is both original and outstanding. At first sight, the panels draw admiration for their rich details and true-to-life depictions. Next, the series invites viewers to join in an intellectual game that challenges their knowledge of art. Many paintings depicted in the panels are based on actual ones. For example, we can identify Madonna and Child in a Garland of Flowers, another collaborative work by Brueghel and Rubens, in The Sense of Sight. The series celebrates the rulers of the Spanish Netherlands by showing idealized depictions of their court life in the setting of each panel. Archduke Albert and Archduchess Isabella allegedly commissioned the series, as suggested by the fact that their double portraits and castles can be seen in the panels.

— Asuka Nakada, Curator, The National Museum of Western Art in Tokyo, Japan