Allegory of "Sight"
Artist/Maker
Material / Technique
Dimensionsh x w: Mått 67 x 50,5 cm h x w x d: Ram 87 x 71 x 6 cm
Inventory numberNM 5637
Other titlesTitle (sv): Allegori över "Synen" Title (en): Allegory of "Sight"
DescriptionCatalogue raisonné: Description in Flemish paintings C. 1600-C. 1800 III, Nationalmuseum, Stockholm, 2010, cat.no. 236: Technical notes: The support consists of two oak boards joined vertically with vertical grain. The painting is in its original format. The panel has been thinned and cradled. Fragmentary traces of bevelling on the top and bottom (extending about 0.2–0.5 cm from the edge). The preparation consists of an evenly applied white chalk ground that covers the support completely. It has been applied with a brush. Visible fingerprints in the ground on the lower left edge. The paint layer has been applied thinly and transparently and has partly faded. Impasto is observed in the highlights in the jewellery, in the hair, the sleeves and the mirror. A reserve has been prepared in the thinly applied bluish-grey background for the woman. Delicately modelled paint layer in the hair, face, hands and clothes. The contours of the arms and hands have been partly enhanced. There are few distinct brushstrokes. On the woman’s left shoulder an underdrawing in a wet medium is partly visible. The pale pink flesh tones have been painted over a darker, brownish-yellowish thin, semitransparent underpainting, which also forms part of the shadows in the shoulders, throat and arms. The flesh tones are partly painted thinly. The face is rendered with pink cheeks. The veil almost merges into the greyish-blue paint is employed in the hair and veil. Distinct brushstrokes with thinly applied paint is used for the details. Provenance: Purchased in 1962. Bibliography: Supplement 1972 to NM Cat. 1958, p. 6; NM Cat. 1990, p. 405. This emblematic painting with its symbolic content bears the inscription “VISUS” (Sight). It is an allegorical representation of one of the senses, sight, and thus may have formed part of a series representing all five senses. The work, purchased at Bukowski’s Auctions in 1962, is a waist-length depiction of a women clad only in a gauzy garment that exposes both breasts. Some of her hair has been combed back, the rest falls in corkscrew curls on to one shoulder. Her coiffure is embellished with a thin veil and pearls. She is grasping one of her breasts with her left hand, while in her right she holds up a mirror into which she is gazing. The mirror is held to reflect her face, as can be seen from the contemplative calm of her facial expression. This allegorical female figure is depicted against a dark, neutral background. The paint layer is thinly applied in some places but there are areas of impasto in her hair and the veil. The general nature of this painting allow attribution not only to an anonymous painter who may have been Flemish, but also to an artist from Germany or even a painter in the school of Ehrenstrahl during Sweden’s Great Power Era in the second half of the 17th century. KS [End]
Motif categoryReligion/Mythology
Collection
TechniquePainting
Object category
Keyword