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

and on the other, Christ's redemption.

32 Similarly, the female figures and mythological scenes in Backer's series of the five senses do not merely represent allegorically the senses, but likewise contain a moral lesson. The engravings of Cornells Cort, made from the drawings of Frans Floris, served as the prototypes to the Backer compositions -just as they did to other Flemish series of the five senses from the second half of the sixteenth century.

33 However, instead of Floris' heroic antique goddesses in long dress, Backer chose young, nude, attractive women to personify the five senses. Another significant difference is that Floris did not embellish his drawings with the kinds of subordinate scenes that Marten de Vos or Backer employed.

34 Backer's stories from Ovid not only illustrate how the five senses work, but also how they can deceive: Narcissus falls in love with his own reflection and Pygmalion with a statue of his own creation.

35 The provocatively posed naked figures, looking into the mirror,

36 eating fruit, smelling flowers and playing music, represent the five senses' power to entice people with worldly pleasures. The motif of the bird settling on the finger of the female figure in Touch and nipping her clearly contains erotic overtones.

37 The use of stories from Ovid as backgrounds to the allegorical figures is uncommon among the sixteenth- and seventeenth-century Netherlandish depictions of the five senses.

38 This unusual choice of themes makes it probable that Backer made this series for a patron of Humanist erudition, who derived intellectual enjoyment from recognising the mythological scenes and the allegorical and moral references. Backer's primary goal, however, was certainly to create a series of paintings that would delight the eye. 32 Nordenfalk, C, The Five Senses in Flemish Art before 1600, in Netherlandish Mannerism. Papers given at a symposium in Nationalmuseum Stockholm, Sept. 21-22,1994 (ed. Cavally-Björkman, G.) Stockholm 1995, p. 143, fig. 12, n. 38: Riggs, T., European Drawings from the Collection of the Ackland Museum of Art (ed. Gillham, C.G. - Wood, C.H.), Chapel Hill, NC 2001, p. 62, no. 20. 33 Hollstein, op.cit. (n. 2) V, 59, 231-235. Floris's study for the engraving the Allegory of Touch is preserved in the Museum of Fine Arts, Budapest, Collection of Prints and Drawings. See Gerszi, T., Netherlandish Drawings in the Budapest Museum. Sixteenth-Century Drawings. An Illustrated Catalogue I, Amsterdam 1971, p. 45, no. 85. 34 Nordenfalk, loc.cit. (n. 32) p. 143. 35 Müller Hofstede, J., 'Non saturatur oculus visu' - Zur "Allegorie des Gesichts" von Pieter Paul Rubens und Jan Brueghel der Ältere, in Vekeman, H. - Müller Hofstede, J., Wort und Bild in der niederländischen Kunst und Literatur des 16. und 17. Jahrhunderts, Erfstadt 1984, n. 240 (henceforth abbreviated 'Non saturatur oculus visu"). 36 The woman gazing into the mirror with a sphinx behind her refers to Vanity, one of the seven deadly sins. Cf. Müller Hofstede, 'Non saturatur oculus visu' (n. 35). According to Sluiter, Backer's allegory of Sight, with Narcissus, considered the father of painting, in the background, refers to painting itself, just as Pygmalion in Touch and Mercurius in Hearing refer to the companion arts of sculpture and music. Cf. Sluiter, loc.cit. (n. 30). 37 The figure of the bird biting a woman's finger was used to demonstrate the sense of touch, but it also referred to the loss of innocence. Cf. Nordenfalk, loc.cit. (n. 32) p. 138. 38 Boorsch, loc.cit. (n. 5) p. 368.