VOS, Simon de

The subject of the scene is an illustration of the popular adage “Sine Baccho et Cerere friget Venus” (Without Ceres and Bacchus, Venus would Freeze): without food (Ceres, the Roman god of agriculture) and wine (Bacchus), love (Venus) is left cold.

In this allegory the five senses are represented as a merry company. Hearing is embodied by the playing musicians, Taste by the flagons of wine, Sight by the lovers gazing into each other’s eyes, Smell by the dog or pipe smoke, and Touch by both the central girl’s contact with the musical instrument and the contact between the lovers to her left. The pyramidal, Mannerist composition, the rich colours and elegant twisting figures are all motifs typical of De Vos’ work. The influence of Johann Liss, whom the artist probably met first in either Venice or Rome in the 1620s, is apparent.

This painting was executed with the contribution of the workshop.

Between 1628 and 1640 Simon de Vos painted a number of festive scenes with men and women singing and playing musical instruments and ranged round richly set banquets. Until about 1640 he must have gained some reputation in Antwerp with this kind of work. These company pictures bring to mind the contemporary pictures by Dutch painters.

After about 1645 Simon de Vos’s style underwent an important change, partly influenced by Van Dyck’s emotionally charged idiom, which was becoming increasingly popular. De Vos did no more genre scenes after this time, but only painted cabinet-sized history pictures such as the Beheading of St Paul.

After the middle of the seventeenth century Baroque was the determining style for small-scale work made by painters in Antwerp, such as Simon de Vos, Pieter van Lint, Willem van Herp the Elder, and others.

The style of Simon de Vos before 1640 is marked by a notable plasticity and a preference for bright light effects. His history paintings are crowded with restlessly moving characters, the Raising of Lazarus is a characteristic example.