VOS, Maerten; de - LONGHI, Giuseppe. The Five Senses.
Bologna, late 17th - early 18th century
5 Copper engravings. Approximately 215x265 mm. Each plate has a title in capital letters. Below the image is a caption in four lines. In the print entitled ‘Odoratus’, the engraver’s address appears at the bottom left “In Bologna p Iosefo Longhi sotto le scole all’Insegna di s. Paolo”. Two small restorations on the margins of ‘Visus’. Good condition, specimens with wide margins.
Rare complete series of allegories of the senses painted by M. de Vos: Odoratus; Auditus; Tactus; Gustus; Visus. Maerten de Vos, Maerten de Vos the Elder or Marten de Vos, 1532 – 1603, an eminent Flemish painter, is known primarily for his historical and allegorical paintings and portraits. Giuseppe Longhi, whose address appears, was a typographer and copperplate engraver who printed booklets, loose sheets, sacred and profane prints, of a decidedly popular nature: he was active in Bologna in the years from 1660 to approximately 1710.