Smoker, ca. 1655

The man with the sly smile in the painting holds a lighted pipe in his left hand. A trail of smoke escapes from his mouth. In the other hand, he holds a knobbed glass beaker slightly askew, thereby spilling a few drops of the contents. Both Calvinists and Catholics had mixed feelings about smoking and alcohol. Alcohol and tobacco were seen as overly pleasurable, and it was feared that they would lead to moral degeneracy. Just as in this day and age, the government attitude was one of ambivalence. Both alcoholic beverages and tobacco were subject to excise duty. The painting not only refers to Taste and Smell, two of the five senses, but also to the transience of life.