Fleeting Scents in Colour

Fleeting – Scents in Colour explores odours and the sense of smell as portrayed in Dutch and Flemish art of the seventeenth century – from fragrant flowers and perfumes to body odours and stinking canals. It is about the sensory role played by smells in daily life, about odours and health, about spices and other scents from far-off lands, and about lost ‘smellscapes’ of the past. But how were odours and the sense of smell portrayed? What meanings were attached to smells and what did they call to mind? Can the life of those times be captured in smells? We are surrounded by countless odours that vanish over time yet exert a strong (often subconscious) influence on our emotions. There are just as many stories to be told about the invisible and intangible phenomenon of smell as there are about art. Using our sense of smell while looking at art can open up a whole new world.

Catalogue in English accompaning the exhibition at the Mauritshuis museum, The Hague, on show till August 29, 2021