PAUWELS FRANCK, PAOLO FIAMMINGO
(Antwerp, c. 1540 - Venice, 1596)
Allegorical scene
Oil on canvas, 96 x 149 cm
The painting depicts an outdoor scene, in front of a farmhouse on the right and a vast landscape on the left. A scantily clad woman is lying on a bed and being flogged by a female figure who holds her by the arm; a child inside the hut and a sleeping male figure on the far left form a corollary to the main scene; a depiction of a consumed banquet serves as a backdrop on the right. This representation should be understood as a "punishment of lust" according to iconographic formulas, typical of Flemish culture, rich in symbolism; the allegorical subject is, however, a pretext for Paolo Fiammingo to create details of daily life: note, for example, the cat pouncing on the remains of food, a delightful detail in the context of a significant piece of still life, which distracts the viewer's attention from the main scene. The work can be placed, chronologically, towards the mid-eighties, due to similarities with paintings dated in those years (see the Allegories of Love in the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna); we are therefore in the central phase of the master's Venetian sojourn, still under the influence of Tintoretto, and inclined to rework elements of Nordic taste alongside influences of Bassano origin.
