Smell (Portrait of Lucas Fayd'herbe)

This 1661 portrait of the sculptor Lucas Fayd'herbe bears the allegorical title of Smell, creating a parallel structure to the Robert van den Hoecke portrait as Sight from the same year. Fayd'herbe (1617–1697) was a prominent Flemish sculptor, architect, and goldsmith who had trained under Rubens and was associated with the highest levels of Antwerp's artistic culture. Pairing a sculptor with the sense of Smell — rather than the more expected Touch — may reflect a specific iconographic choice by Coques or his patron: Smell could invoke the aromatic resins and oils used in studio processes, or alternatively position the sitter within a refined sensory world of connoisseurship. The National Gallery holds both this portrait and the van den Hoecke Sight portrait, suggesting they may have been collected or displayed as pendants. The collaboration between Coques and Fayd'herbe across the Antwerp artistic community was part of the dense web of professional and social relationships that animated the city's culture.

Oil on panel with the refined surface finish Coques brought to his most considered portrait commissions. The sitter's identity as a sculptor may influence the treatment of his hands — instruments of a tactile craft — and any objects placed with him. Warm interior lighting places Fayd'herbe in the domestic or studio setting Coques favoured. The allegorical attribute of Smell, however rendered, occupies a secondary but visually integrated role relative to the portrait function.