# Conversation Piece \(The Sense of Smell\)

[View the canonical artwork record](<https://beta.wga.hu/artists/ekels-jan-the-younger-r7f2448baca5dfa/conversation-piece-the-sense-of-smell-r15d85794ff06ee>)

## Artwork

- Artist: [EKELS, Jan the Younger](<https://beta.wga.hu/artists/ekels-jan-the-younger-r7f2448baca5dfa>)
- Date: 1751-1800
- Technique: Oil on canvas, 66 x 60 cm

## Commentary

Conversation Piece \(The Sense of Smell\) c. 1791 Oil on canvas, 66 x 60 cm Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York This painting is a characteristic work by Jan Ekels, who specialised in sober interiors with one or a few figures. It comes from a series of five canvases depicting the Five Senses, of which four paintings are presently known. Each painting shows two men and a woman in a room, which is furnished with a colourful rug, a covered table with the same kind of chairs. The backgrounds all feature a bare wall with a curtain pulled to one side and a door with an overdoor painting depicting a classical relief. The present painting represents the Sense of Smell.

## Related artworks

- [A Writer Trimming His Pen](<https://beta.wga.hu/artists/ekels-jan-the-younger-r7f2448baca5dfa/a-writer-trimming-his-pen-r7f28a314cad145>)

## Attribution

[Web Gallery of Art](<https://beta.wga.hu/pages/about>)