# Allegory of the Sense of Smell [View the canonical artwork record]() ## Artwork - Artist: [BIJLERT, Jan van]() - Date: 1601-1650 - Technique: Oil on canvas, 97 x 91 cm ## Commentary Allegory of the Sense of Smell c. 1631 Oil on canvas, 97 x 91 cm Private collection The subject depicted is almost certainly an allegory of smell. The dog, an animal known for its acute sense of smell, leaps into the lap of the nude towards the rose which strains on its stem as it blooms, suggestive of a heady perfume. The painting likely formed part of a series of the Five Senses. ## Related artworks - [A Woman Holding Pancakes]() - [Bagpipe Player]() - [Girl Teasing a Cat]() - [Music-making Company]() - [Musical Company]() - [Portrait of an Unknown Man]() - [Shepherd Holding a Flute]() - [Shepherdess]() - [The Concert]() - [Ulysses and Circe]() - [Venus and Amor and an Old Woman]() - [Virgin and Child]() ## Attribution [Web Gallery of Art]()