The Sense of Smell
| Object type | Painting |
| Genre | Allegory |
| Date | 1617-1618 |
| Dimensions | 65 x 111 cm |
| Support | Panel |
| Medium | Oil |
| Signature | BRUEGHEL |
| Collaborators | Peter Paul Rubens |
| Our attribution | Jan Brueghel the Elder |
| Other authorities | Ertz 2008-10, #537 Ertz 1979, #331 |
| Location | Madrid, Spain |
| Collection | Museo del Prado |
| Accession numbers | inv. #1396 |
| Series | The Five Senses |
| Tags | Encyclopedic, Senses, Animals, Guinea Pigs, City, Rubens, Nude, Putti, Flowers |
| External resources | Museo del Prado |
This painting is part of a series of the five sense completed between 1617-1618.
Please see:
A copy attributed to Jan the Elder and van Balen sold Paris, April 26 1907, #4.
a copy attributed to Jan the Elder and van Balen sold in Vienna, J.C. von Klinkosch, April 2, 1889, #28 (panel, 68 x 108 cm).
A copy with a clothed woman sold Amsterdam, SMvW, April 29, 1985, #118 as Jan the Elder: 75 x 115.
fairly close copy sold Brussels (Pal.des Beaux Arts 7 December 1960 #14), panel, 67 x 111.
Several very loose versions with a perfume shop at right: one with deer and a fountain in the middle ground (86 x 114 cm) sold Cologne (Lepke), May 5, 1925 #223. Another without deer, sold Brussels (Weber), July 7, 1926, # 22 (panel, 60 x 88 cm).
One version in good condition sold London, Sotheby's, July 10, 2002, #50 (panel, 56.3 x 89.1 cm).
Two rather distant variants, one sold New York (Chrsitie's 9.i.81 #117), 57.5 x 77.5, another sold London (Christie's 3/5.vii.96 #42), 57 x 88.2. Both of these might be a fair amount later.
[It is possible that some of the versions listed above repeat one another.
The same Wan-Li vase also holds the bouquet of flowers in the Sense of Sight from this series.