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an image of a painting of a woman with a bird in her handa painting of a woman with a bird in her handpainting of a woman in a white dress with a gold necklace on her neckan image of a painting of a woman with a crown on her heada painting of a person holding a bird in their handan old painting of a woman in a white dress and red shawlan old painting of a woman with red hair and a gold broocher on her necka painting of a woman with a flower in her hairan image of a painting of a tree with a spider on itan old wooden window with a grid pattern on it
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60 - Attributed to Otto van Veen and his workshop (Leiden, c. 155…

Estimate €5,000 - €15,000
Sale commission
Description
Attributed to Otto van Veen and his workshop (Leiden, c. 1556–Brussels, 1629) “Allegory of Touch” Oil on oak panel. Circa 1600. 101 x 86 cm. Oil on oak panel. Female allegorical representation identifiable as the personification of the Sense of Touch, one of the subjects most highly prized by the humanist culture of the Southern Netherlands during the final decades of the sixteenth century and the opening years of the seventeenth. The figure is depicted half-length before a wooded landscape, wearing a light-coloured gown that retains traces of delicate gilded brocade and which, modestly yet sensually, reveals one breast beneath its translucent fabric. The garment is gathered at the waist by a beautifully woven belt of remarkable colour and texture. Draped over her shoulders is an ample red mantle arranged in elegant folds characteristic of late Mannerist tradition. In one hand she holds a vividly coloured exotic parrot, which is shown gently pecking one of her fingers, while the other hand adopts a carefully articulated gesture that contributes to the rhetorical and allegorical nature of the composition. The hands, conceived as the principal means through which mankind engages with the material world, play a central role within the iconographic programme. The richness of the jewels, pearls and ornaments worn by the figure enhances the visual refinement of the scene while actively participating in its symbolic meaning, these precious objects being valued and appreciated through direct physical contact and handling. Particularly noteworthy is the presence of a spider suspended at the centre of its web, an iconographic element of remarkable rarity and intellectual sophistication. Within the emblematic tradition of the period, the spider constituted an effective metaphor for physical sensitivity and perception through contact, making it an especially appropriate image for the representation of the Sense of Touch. The identification of the subject as Touch is therefore supported by the presence of these symbolic elements, all closely associated with physical sensation and tactile experience. The painting may originally have formed part of a series devoted to the Five Senses, a subject of extraordinary popularity among the artistic and intellectual circles of Antwerp during the transition from the sixteenth to the seventeenth century. From a stylistic perspective, the work displays numerous characteristics associated with the Antwerp school of painting around 1600–1625: delicate modelling of the flesh tones, meticulous attention to ornamental detail, Mannerist influences in the construction of the figure, and a pronounced interest in allegories of moral and intellectual content. The elegance of the face, the sophistication of the iconographic programme, and the quality of execution allow the painting to be associated with the artistic milieu of Otto van Veen, the distinguished humanist painter and teacher of Peter Paul Rubens. The work also finds parallels in the production of artists active within his circle, including Hendrick van Balen and the early representatives of Antwerp’s emerging Rubensian environment. Although later Flemish representations of the Sense of Touch, particularly those derived from the celebrated collaborations between Rubens and Jan Brueghel, often rely on elaborate multi-figure compositions populated with symbolic objects and animals, the present work belongs to a more intimate and intellectual tradition. Its concentrated use of emblematic motifs — notably the spider, the exotic bird and the jewels — places it closer to the humanist culture cultivated in Antwerp around 1600 and to the artistic milieu of Otto van Veen. Preserved on its original thin oak panel, a support characteristic of Flemish painting of the period, the work constitutes a compelling testament to the allegorical culture that flourished in the Southern Netherlands at the beginning of the seventeenth century. Beyond its undeniable pictorial quality, the painting has retained intact its ability to convey the complex symbolic universe for which it was conceived. Four centuries after its creation, the spider, the parrot, the pearls and the expressive gesture of the figure continue to engage the modern viewer, reminding us of a time when images were not only contemplated, but also read. Otto van Veen was one of Antwerp’s foremost humanist painters and developed a visual language profoundly influenced by emblematic and moralising literature. His allegories are frequently constructed from a limited number of carefully chosen elements, intended to be interpreted by an educated viewer. Our beautiful painting is not merely an Allegory of Touch. It is an allegory conceived at a very specific moment in European culture: when painting and emblematic literature walked hand in hand; when a cultivated spectator was expected to decipher symbols; when a spider could signify far more than a spider; and when an image was also an exercise in intellect. A version of this painting was auctioned by Sotheby’s, attributed to Otto Van Veen, and the lot description notes that the Musée des Beaux-Arts in Lille also holds a Venetian painting with the same composition, possibly by Parrasio Micheli, with the inventory number P939. In our opinion, Micheli would be a closer attribution for the painting at Sotheby’s, and Van Veen for ours.
About the sale Dialogues with the Past: Vestigia
Auction location
Auction time 07/02/2026 at 7:00 PM
Pictures credits: Contact the Auction House
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