Allegory of the Five Senses, ca. 1632

Each man in this painting symbolizes one of the five senses. The old man with glasses and a mirror represents Sight. The chitarrone, a type of bass lute, stands for Sound. The blind man is symbolic of the sense of Touch. The jolly man with a glass of wine in his hand portrays Taste, and the elegant young man with a pipe and garlic, Smell. The garlic, wine, music and mirror refer to the fallacy of sensory perception and the transience of life. The Ghent bishop, Antoon Triest, who also owned several paintings by Dutch masters, ordered this canvas from Rombouts.