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Allegory of Touch, Hearing and Taste

Allegory of Touch, Hearing and Taste

Object type Painting
Genre Allegory
Date 1617-1618
Dimensions 176 x 264 cm
Support Canvas
Medium Oil
Collaborators Frans Francken the Younger
Peter Paul Rubens
Our attribution Jan Brueghel the Elder
Other authorities Ertz 1979, #333 as Jan Brueghel the Elder and studio
Ertz 2008-10 as Jan Brueghel the Younger, Hendrick van Balen, and Frans Francken the Younger
Location Madrid, Spain
Collection Museo del Prado
Accession numbers inv. #1404
Series Five Senses Pendants
Tags Cosmology, Encyclopedic, Senses, Francken, Rubens, Painting Within A Painting, Mariemont, Landscape, Food, Musical instruments
External resources Museo del Prado
Terlinden 1934, p. 360
Clerici 1946, p. 107
Hairs 1955, p.30
De Maeyer 1955, doc. 139, pp. 43, 152-54
Speth-Holterhoff 1957, pp. 58-60
Eemans 1964, p. 83
Mirimonde 1966, pp. 136 & 144
Díaz Padrón & Recchiutto 1973
Barricelli 1974, p. 68
Díaz Padrón 1975, pp. 63-64
Ertz 1979, cat. #333, fig. 429
Härting 1983, 157, A, 304 1-2
Härting 1989, cat. #s 394 & 395, pp. 58, 113-14, 116, 158, 356-57
Díaz Padrón in Brussels 1985, pp. 612-614
Vergara 1999, pp. 29-32, fig. 11
Ertz 2008-10, pp. 1114-1115
Rooses 1890, IV, p. 339
Duverger 1957-58, p. 29
Crawford-Volk 1981, p. 526
1623 Flanders One of 25 paintings sent from Flanders to Queen Isabel de Bourbon
1636 Madrid In the Alcázar "in the room where the king eats during the summer" (attributed to Rubens and Brueghel)
E.A. Honig
July 6, 2013

Ertz had attributed these to Brueghel, Rubens, and Snyders. Others agree, though, that Snyders was not involved in this or (probably) any other collaboration with Brueghel.

Díaz Padrón argued that all the paintings seen here were executed by Francken, except for the "Dentist." He also points out that the largest painting in the room is a version, by Francken, of the Antwerp Visit by Minerva to Helicon.

For more on this pair of paintings see under the Allegory of Sight and Smell.