19. Jan Both (ca. 1618-1652)
after Andries Both (1611/12-ca. 1641)
The Five Senses (complete set)

(click on image to print)
Both, The Five Senses

The Five Senses (complete set)

Other Images:

Etchings, 219 x 17 mm., Bartsch 11-15, Dutuit 11-15 ii/iv, Hollstein 11-15 ii/iv, ex collection: Prince of Liechtenstein (?) (Lugt on line 4398). The complete set of five in superb impressions on laid paper showing a foolscap watermark, trimmed to the borderlines but with the full texts below; unnoticeable flattened horizontal center folds. Jan Both is known primarily as a painter and etcher of idyllic Italian scenes, but he did one set of peasant scenes, cleverly cast as representations of the five senses, after designs by his older brother, who specialized in that genre. The representations are obviously a far cry from the classic presentations of the senses, but are clever, amusing and exceedingly well drawn and etched. The impressions, which still show, in places, the guidelines for the texts, were said, on the old mounts, to have come from the Liechtenstein collection. This is impossible to verify as only a few, important prints from that collection were stamped among the many that were sold.