Gonzales Coques, 'Sight (Portrait of Robert van den Hoecke)', before 1661
About the work
Overview
This is one of five paintings intended to hang together, each of which denotes one of the five senses – a common theme for painting in the Low Countries in the seventeenth century. In each painting Gonzales Coques has used a traditional activity to represent the relevant sense. This is Sight, depicted as a painter holding up his palette and a picture of what seems to be a camp and some figures in a landscape.
Each sense is also a real portrait. This is Robert van den Hoecke (1622–1668), a painter and engraver who worked in Antwerp and Brussels. He became Contrôleur des Fortifications in Flanders – the plan on the table, the baldric (belt hung over the shoulder) and the sword presumably refer to this office. He has been identified by an inscription on an engraving of the portrait published in 1661.
Key facts
Details
- Full title
- Sight (Portrait of Robert van den Hoecke)
- Artist
- Gonzales Coques
- Artist dates
- 1614/18 - 1684
- Part of the series
- The Five Senses
- Date made
- before 1661
- Medium and support
- oil on wood
- Dimensions
- 25.2 × 19.5 cm
- Acquisition credit
- Bought, 1882
- Inventory number
- NG1114
- Location
- Not on display
- Collection
- Main Collection
Provenance
Additional information
Text extracted from the ‘Provenance’ section of the catalogue entry in Gregory Martin, ‘National Gallery Catalogues: The Flemish School: circa 1600–circa 1900’, London 1986; for further information, see the full catalogue entry.
Bibliography
-
1878E. Fétis, Galerie du Vte du Bus de Gisignies, Brussels 1878
-
1880T. van Lerius, Biographies d'artistes anversois, Antwerp 1880
-
1943H. Kauffmann, 'Die Fünfsinne in der niederländischen Malerei des 17 Jahrhunderts', in Kunstgeschichtliche Studien, Dagobert Fry zum 23 April 1943, Breslau 1943, pp. 133-57
-
1955C.-t. Li, The Five Senses in Art: An Analysis of Its Development in Northern Europe, Phd Thesis, State University of Iowa 1955
-
1960E. Plietzsch, Holländische und flämische Maler des XVII. Jahrh, Leipzig 1960
-
1963F.C. Legrand, Les Peintres Flamands du Genre Au XVIIe Siècle, Brussels 1963
-
1970G. Martin, The Flemish School, circa 1600-circa 1900, London 1970
-
1971M. Putscher, 'Die fünf Sinne', Aachener Kunstblätter, XLI, 1971, pp. 152-73
-
1974H. Vlieghe, 'National Gallery Flemish Pictures: National Gallery Catalogues: The Flemish School Circa 1600-Circa 1900 by Gregory Martin', The Burlington Magazine, CXVI/850, 1974, pp. 47-8
-
1981G. de Vuyst, Gonzales Coques, MA Thesis, Rijksuniversiteit 1981
-
1984J. Müller Hofstede, Wort und Bild in der niederländische Kunst, Erfstadt 1984
-
1986Martin, Gregory, National Gallery Catalogues: The Flemish School, circa 1600 - circa 1900, London 1986
-
1994K. van der Stighelen, 'Self-Portraits of Gonzales Coques and a Study of His Portrait of Jacques Le Merchier', in E. Mai et al., Die Malerei Antwerpens - Gattungen, Meister, Wirkungen, Internationales Kolloquium Wien, 1993, Cologne 1994, pp. 115-124
-
2001
C. Baker and T. Henry, The National Gallery: Complete Illustrated Catalogue, London 2001
About this record
If you know more about this painting or have spotted an error, please contact us. Please note that exhibition histories are listed from 2009 onwards. Bibliographies may not be complete; more comprehensive information is available in the National Gallery Library.
Images
About the series: The Five Senses

Overview
This is a series of five small pictures which represent the senses: taste, touch, hearing, smell and sight. Many paintings on this theme were made in the Low Countries in the seventeenth century, and Gonzales Coques painted the series more than once.
A man engaged in a relevant activity represents each sense – Hearing, for example, is a musician. The figures appear to be portraits and, while we can't now identify them all, it may be that each picture shows an artist. All those that have been identified depict contemporary painters or sculptors – the figure of Sight is a portrait of Robert van den Hoeke (1622–1668), a painter who worked in Antwerp.
The pictures appear to have been designed to hang in a particular way. Two men face to the right, two to the left; one – Touch – sits facing the viewer, and was presumably intended to be hung as the central image flanked by the others.