De vijf zintuigen (en tevens vijf leeftijden?) 1578 - 1611

Curator: Here we have a complex grouping of figures depicted in ink and charcoal, "The Five Senses (and also Five Ages?)" by Anton Moller the Elder, created sometime between 1578 and 1611. It’s a captivating drawing executed in the Mannerist style. Editor: It strikes me as a scene thick with textures, almost overwhelming. The clustering of faces, the deep hatching... It creates a powerful visual weight. Curator: Exactly. And each figure contributes a very specific symbolic offering, seemingly related to human sensory experience and maybe also developmental stages. For instance, we see a baby, maybe representing the sense of touch, and an older gentleman poring over some musical score. Editor: Ah yes, the man with the musical score, almost blending into the composition as a formal element of notation and beard... And is that a lute player above him, giving sound an overt pictorial reality? Then a man enjoying what looks like wine? Curator: Undoubtedly tasting something wonderful. It seems likely. So smell, taste, touch, sound... What do you make of the female figure with what might be a flower at her nose? Editor: Presumably, it represents the sense of smell! But more interestingly, to me at least, is how these elements relate formally: the strong horizontals are balanced precariously, as in much Mannerist artwork, generating significant tension and even a slightly grotesque effect in the facial expressions, which have so much cross hatching it looks like scarification. Curator: And the deep, evocative hatching speaks of hidden aspects, the shadows, perhaps also signifying more obscure cultural meanings connected with mortality. It is difficult to separate mortality and sensory pleasure, is it not? They always exist together in reality, as do pleasure and fear. It is our existential predicament as thinking and feeling beings. Editor: I’d say it certainly pushes us to look beyond a simplistic interpretation, revealing layers of meaning embedded in its rich, almost frantic style. Curator: It seems M\u00f6ller’s work becomes more powerful upon reflection as we notice connections among people and sensory experience. Editor: I’m struck by how much the starkness and intensity of ink and charcoal lend this piece a real dramatic, material weight, despite its somewhat ambiguous allegorical elements.