Joos van Craesbeeck, The Five Senses, 1640–1643

by Atelier Liesjes

In a dimly lit pub, a group of people has gathered round a round wooden table. On the left, a figure wearing a wide-brimmed straw hat and a flamboyant white collar is leaning over a small table with a bowl on it, whilst behind him a man with dark curly hair and a moustache looks on with a smile. Seated at the table is a bearded man in a brown doublet, holding a stoneware jug; next to him, a woman in a dark blue dress and white bonnet is holding up a folded cloth. Behind her, a man in a fur cap is yawning, his mouth wide open as if he were singing. On the right stands a child in a red-and-pink outfit with a feathered hat and a large hat in his hand, watched by a man with a pipe. On the floor lie shards of glass and a glass jug; on the table are coins. The scene is conceived as an allegory of the five senses: the jug and the drinking represent taste, the pipe represents smell, the open mouth represents hearing, the glances and the cloth held aloft represent sight and touch. Craesbeeck painted all this in the tradition of the Antwerp genre painting, using a warm palette of brown, ochre and muted red, with a chiaroscuro that brings the faces out of the darkness. The atmosphere is that of working-class life: noisy, a little vulgar, but with a moralising undertone regarding drink and sensual pleasure.
Joos van Craesbeeck (Neerlinter c. 1605 – Brussels 1661) began his career as a baker and became a pupil of Adriaen Brouwer, from whom he derived his loose, sure brushwork and his preference for tavern scenes. In 1633–1634, he became a master of the Antwerp Guild of Saint Luke; he later settled in Brussels. In addition to genre pieces, he painted religious scenes. His work can be found, amongst other places, in Karlsruhe and in Flemish museums. A characterful seventeenth-century piece for a cosy interior.