Reuk (Sense of Smell) - Cornelis Dusart

A detailed mezzotint by Cornelis Dusart depicting a domestic scene from his series on the five senses.

This mezzotint by Cornelis Dusart belongs to a series depicting the five senses. In this composition, the artist explores the sense of smell through a domestic scene. An elderly woman sits in a modest interior, tending to an infant who lies across her lap. The woman holds the child's foot, suggesting the act of changing a nappy, a task that directly invokes the olfactory theme of the work.

Dusart, a pupil of Adriaen van Ostade, maintained the tradition of Dutch genre painting by focusing on the everyday lives of common people. His technical approach to the mezzotint medium allows for soft transitions between light and shadow, creating a tactile quality in the fabrics and the weathered skin of the woman. The background features a leaded glass window and a simple cupboard, elements that ground the figures in a specific, recognisable environment.

The print demonstrates the artist's ability to capture mundane human activity with a sense of quiet observation. By choosing a domestic chore as the vehicle for representing a sense, Dusart moves away from the allegorical grandeur often found in contemporary painting, opting instead for a grounded, human perspective. The composition is balanced, with the figures occupying the centre of the frame, while the subtle play of light across the child and the woman's hands draws the viewer into the intimacy of the moment. This work remains a fine example of late seventeenth-century Dutch printmaking, where technical skill meets a keen interest in the realities of daily life.