17th CENTURY FLEMISH SCHOOL, WORKSHOP OF Jan COSSIERS - Lot 32

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Lot n° 32
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7000 - 9000 EUR
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17th CENTURY FLEMISH SCHOOL, WORKSHOP OF Jan COSSIERS - Lot 32
17th CENTURY FLEMISH SCHOOL, WORKSHOP OF Jan COSSIERS Allegory of smell, sight, taste and hearing Four canvases. Height: 59.5 cm, Width: 57.5 cm. Only one framed work. (Old restorations, accidents and missing parts). Jean Cossiers often painted these "tronies" (portraits of expression, vividly brushed and sometimes outrageously naturalistic) that blend Caravaggesque realism and Nordic tradition. His half-body figures are generally placed in situations: one is admiring a miniature reminding him of a loved one, another is smoking a pipe or sniffing a flower, another is pouring wine into a cup or salivating over a pâté en croûte. Always, the symbol slips behind the immediacy of the image. For these subjects illustrate a theme that Jan Cossiers repeated over and over again throughout his career: the allegory of the Five Senses (Sight, Touch, Hearing, Smelling, Tasting). This theme, very popular in Flanders, first appeared around 1560 in prints by Frans Floris, in which the senses are personified by women dressed in antique style. In the 17th century, these ideal creatures gave way to familiar figures performing everyday gestures. Behind this jovial appearance, however, lies a moral significance: a musical instrument such as the violin refers to the transience of life.
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