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Lining paper
Unknown - Enlarge image
Lining paper
- Place of origin:
England, Great Britain (printed)
- Date:
ca. 1680-1688 (made)
- Artist/Maker:
Unknown (production)
- Materials and Techniques:
Woodcut, ink on paper
- Museum number:
E.1135-1931
- Gallery location:
In Storage
Object Type
A woodcut like this by an unnamed artist would have sold for much less than the etchings of The Five Senses by a famous printmaker such as Francis Cleyn (see, for example, E.713-1927). From the time they were first produced in Europe around 1400, woodcuts, even by famous artists, were cheaper than the best etchings and engravings.
Subject Depicted
The Five Senses are Sight (in the middle), Taste (top left corner), Smell (top right corner), Touch (bottom right corner) and Hearing (bottom left corner). The Senses are represented by a couple and, in all but one case, a winged cherub engaged in some activity related to the sense. For Sight, the woman is looking in a mirror, and for Taste, the man is offering the woman a fruit hanging on a tree. For Smell, the couple is smelling a rose, for Touch the man is holding the cherub up to the woman's breast, and for Hearing the couple and the cherub are playing on musical instruments. The artist has filled the space below the central circle with trumpets and drums relating to Hearing and with a quiver of arrows relating to Touch.
The artist has taken delight in using a variety of different patterns as part of the composition: black and white chequered floor tiles, arches of overlapping semicircles above Hearing and Touch, and a border of stylised leaves and flowers round the outside.
