Smell this Brueghel at the Prado

April 5 2022

Image of Smell this Brueghel at the Prado

Picture: Prado

Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:

The Prado in Madrid is the latest museum to explore the subject of smell in paintings. In particular, the museum will be bringing to life Peter Brueghel the Elder's (in collaboration with Rubens) Sense of Smell (pictured) in a small exhibition entitled The Essence of a Painting. An Olfactory Exhibition.

According to the website:

On display until 3 July in Room 83 of the Villanueva Building, The Sense of Smell, a painting by Jan Brueghel and Rubens, is the focus of The Essence of a Painting. An Olfactory Exhibition, curated by Alejandro Vergara, Chief Curator of Flemish Painting and the Northern Schools at the Museo Nacional del Prado, and Gregorio Sola, Senior Perfumer at Puig and an academician of the Perfume Academy, who has created ten fragrances associated with elements in the painting. 

Brueghel’s work, which evokes the garden of rare trees and plants belonging to Isabel Clara Eugenia and her husband in early 17th-century Brussels, depicts more than 80 species of plants and flowers, as well as various animals associated with the sense of smell, such as the scent hound and civet, and a range of objects relating to the world of perfume, including scented gloves, vessels  holding fragrant substances, a perfume burner warmed in a sumptuous brazier, and vessels for distilling essences.

The show will run until 3rd July 2022.

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