Csornay Boldizsár - Dobos Zsuzsa - Varga Ágota - Zakariás János szerk.: A Szépművészeti Múzeum közleményei 98. (Budapest, 2003)

TÁTRAI, JÚLIA: 'Jacob de Backer invenit' - The Allegory of Smell. A New Aquisition of the Museum of Fine Arts, Budapest

can be stylistically and thematically connected to Backer.

19 The compositions of works in this group, of which several copies or variations are known, allow us to conclude that, in accordance with the practices of the time, the master probably ran a large workshop where the demands of the market took precedence.

20 Belonging to this group is the series depicting the five senses, the etched version of which bears the name of the 'inventor,' Jacob de Backer, and also served as the basis for attributing the preparatory drawing for the Sense of Smell, preserved in Leiden, to the artist. As mentioned above, we know that painted panel versions exists for the allegories of Sight, Taste (fig. 18) and Smell, while Hearing was painted on canvas (fig. 19).

21 In addition to the Sense of Touch held in a private collection in Budapest (fig. 20), there are two more variations of this same composition by Backer: one is preserved in the Zanchi collection (fig. 21 ),

22 while the other was auctioned in London in 1971.

23 Of the three paintings, the one whose composition most resembles that in the etching is the one in the Zanchi collection. D. Bodart, in his expertise, compares the panels in the Budapest and Zanchi collections to the etching, noting that the tree behind the woman in the Budapest picture has less foliage than in the Zanchi picture or the print. In addition, the background in the latter two contains a hilly landscape with river, which is absent in the Budapest painting. Bodart thus concluded that the etching published by Meyssens used the painting in the Zanchi collection as its model. In the picture auctioned in London - and not mentioned by Bodart - only the main figure is similar to that in the other two works; its painter probably only knew the original through a succession of copies. Here instead of the Pygmalion scene, we see a bouquet of flowers in a vase, fruit rolling out of a bowl, and a decorative pitcher. The attributes associated with the senses are either absent or appear deprived of their original meaning. For example, a bird does not nip the woman's finger, but just stands on it, while a swan instead of a turtle appears in the foreground. 19 Leuschner, loc.cit. (n. 13) p. 171. 20 The largest in number are the variations of the Last Judgement composition on the Plantin epitaph (Cathedral, Antwerp), attributed to Backer. For more on the Last Judgement painting in Antwerp, signed and dated 1571 and once considered an early work of Backer's, see: De Vos, D., Het Laatste Oordeel door Jacob de Backer: Een probleem van oorspronkelijkheid. Bulletin des Musées Royaux des Beaux-Arts de Belgique 22 (1973) 59-72 and Leuschner, loc.cit. (n. 13) p. 168. 21 High Museum of Art, Atlanta, Georgia, oil, canvas, 74x105.5 cm. The painting was done not on wood like the other pictures in Backer's five senses series, but on canvas. Its scale also differs from the panel paintings, which are almost the same size. It is first mentioned as a work from the workshop of Backer by Boorsch, loc.cit. (n. 5). In Zafran, E.M., European Art in the High Museum, Atlanta, Georgia, High Museum of Art 1984, 102, the picture is considered a work by a Flemish follower of Backer from the end of the sixteenth century, in which the original composition is placed in front of a more extensive background. 22 Oil, wood, 43.5x60 cm. Provenance: in 1982, in the collection of F.B. Berne, attributed to Frans Floris. It is most likely identical with the painting auctioned in Bern, at Dobiaschofsky as a work of Frans Floris (Auction 55, May 5-8, 1982). Cf. Huet, L, Jacob de Backer (1545/50 - na 1610) pictor olim famosus. Leven en werken. Dissertation, Universiteit Leuven 1989, cat. no. A36.2. 23 Auctioned: London. Sotheby's, 28 April 1971. Oil, wood, 51x67 cm. Description in the catalogue: J. de Backer: Touch (allegory) with seated woman holding a parakeet, on the right are summer flowers in a vase and a fruit bowl.