In Paris, Linard associated with a group of Protestant artists who specialized in still-life painting. Among them were some of the leading painters in this genre, including Louise Moillon and Paul Liegeois. Although his style reveals the influence of the Flemish school, particularly Jan Brueghel, his works are also imbued with the elegance characteristic of French painting in this genre.
The allegory of the five senses was perfectly suited to the symbolic intent of 17th-century still lifes. In these emblematic arrangements, one or more objects signify each faculty. The flower arrangement connotes smell; sight pertains to the mirror, and taste to the pomegranate, lemon and cup of wine. An ivory flageolet, or flute, represents hearing, whereas touch is indicated by the playing cards, dice and shaker.
The painting’s emblematic possibilities are not limited to the senses, however, as sophisticated viewers would have recognized additional meanings. Card-playing and other games, as well as music, were considered transient pleasures. The flowers in the precious Chinese bowl might call attention to the passing of time and the fragility of youth. The mirror, which frequently appears in still lifes (its Latin root is mirari, or “to gaze"), likely underscores the theme of vanity. By extension, if one reads the red wine as a symbol of Christ’s sacrifice and death, the birch box as a symbol of his sepulcher and the split pomegranate as a reference to his resurrection, the composition betokens the Passion of Christ.
Details
- Artist Name: Jacques Linard (French, 1600-1645)
- Title: Still Life: The Five Senses with Flowers
- Date: 1639
- Medium: Oil on canvas
- Dimensions: 21-1/2 x 26-3/4 in. (54.6 x 68 cm)
- Credit Line: Norton Simon Art Foundation, from the Estate of Jennifer Jones Simon
- Accession Number: M.2010.1.192.P
- Copyright: © Norton Simon Art Foundation
Object Information
M. Wuester after conclusion of WWII.
R. Payelle, Paris, by 1957 until 1962.
(sale, Paris, Palais Galliera, 23 November 1972, lot 43, as Nature morte, les cinq sens, to);
[Paul Rosenberg & Co., New York];
[E. V. Thaw/Apollo Arts Ltd., Zug, Switzerland, sold 1979 to];
Norton Simon, by bequest to;
Jennifer Jones Simon Art Trust, to;
Norton Simon Art Foundation.
A la recherche de la peinture ancienne. Natures-Mortes du XVIIe siècle des écoles espagnole, française, flamande, hollandaise
- Paris, Galerie de l'Elysée, 1950-05-19 to 1950-06-02
Vier Eeuwen Stilleven in Frankrijk
- Rotterdam, Museum Boymans, 1954-07-10 to 1954-09-20
Il Seicento Europeo: Realismo Classicismo Barocco. Mostra organizzata dal Ministero Italiano della P.I. sotto gli auspici del Consiglio d'Europa
- Rome, Palazzo delle Esposizioni, 1956-12 to 1957-01
A Golden Century of French Painting
- The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1982-05-26 to 1982-08-12
- Art Institute of Chicago, 1982-09-18 to 1982-11-28
La Peinture française au XVIIe siècle dans les collections americaines
- Paris, Galeries Nationales du Grand Palais, 1982-01-29 to 1982-04-26
All Consuming: Art and the Essence of Food
- Norton Simon Museum, 2023-04-14 to 2023-08-14
Significant Objects: The Spell of Still Life
- Norton Simon Museum, 2012-07-20 to 2013-01-21
Reinstallation of Galleries: Art History of the 17th and 18th Century Gains Fresh Dimension
- Norton Simon Museum, 1993-09-02 to 1995-08-13
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- Benedict, Kurt, Maandblad voor Beeldende Kunsten, 1936, pp. 29-34
- Natures mortes: Catalogue de la collection du Musée des Beaux-Arts de Strasbourg, 1954,
- Benedict, Curt, Études d'art, 1957, pp. 10, 42
- Bern, Kunstmuseum, Das 17. Jahrhundert in der Französischen Malerei, 1959,
- Faré, Michel, La Nature Morte en France: Son histoire et son évolution du XVIIe au XXe siècle, 1962, pp. 38, 39-40, 97, 98, 106
- Le petit journal des grands expositions, 1982, p. 3
- Campbell, Sara, Collector Without Walls: Norton Simon and His Hunt for the Best, 2010, cat. 1583 p. 423
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