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Description: | Signed: yes Description: Before a classical stone building, five figures to left of centre, each with an associated attribute. Back left, a woman in an orange-brown dress is pecked on the fingers of her upraised right hand by a green parrot; back right, a woman holds a piece of fruit (a peach?). Front left a semi-naked infant boy sounds a triangle; centre, a young girl, in a white striped dress with a light-blue tunic over, offers a bunch of roses to a carved stone figure of a standing Cupid; front right, seated on the steps, another semi-naked infant boy, partially swathed in vivid red drapery, points to his reflection in a convex circular mirror with an ornate carved and gilt frame. A stone altar-like feature to the right foreground, with carved relief scenes on the sides; above which, an elaborate bouquet of flowers in a gilt vase, a capuchin monkey holding a walnut between it and the statue of Cupid to the right. Shells, a musical pipe and open musical score to the front. To the left, several putti play by a fountain with a statue of a river god. Further to being an allegory of the five physical senses, the painting seems also to be a portrait of the children of a member of a van Rijn family of Amsterdam; there may also be a deeper message about the transience of the senses as opposed to the eternity of true love. | Subjects: | allegory (five senses); figure; animal (monkey) | Source: | Vads | Creator: | Artist: Lairesse, Gerard de (Flemish painter, printmaker, and draftsman, 1640-1711) Æ | Identifier: | http://www.vads.ac.uk/large.php?uid=8790... | Go to resource |
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