Landscape with a Huntsmen and Dead Game (Allegory of the Sense of Smell)
About this artwork
This enormous canvas features a wooded coastal landscape, the setting for hunting activities, seen through an opening which serves as a display shelf for dead game. The artist’s skills in rendering different materials and textures, and animate and inanimate forms (including the statue of Pan, the ancient god of the woods), is clearly evident. The dogs provide the clue to the painting’s allegorical theme, which is the sense of smell. It was one of five works (each representing a sense) forming a grand decorative scheme in the Amsterdam house of a wealthy Portuguese patron.
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title:Landscape with a Huntsmen and Dead Game (Allegory of the Sense of Smell)
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accession number:NG 2523
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artist:
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materials:Oil on canvas
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date created:1697
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measurements:344.00 x 323.00 cm (framed: 427.00 x 364.00 cm)
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credit line:Purchased 1990
Jan Weenix
Jan Weenix
Weenix is best known for his large still-life and game pieces, which he frequently combined with landscapes. He probably trained with his father, who specialised in genre scenes and landscapes. Weenix worked in an Italianate style and widened his choice of subjects to include harbour scenes. By 1675 he had…