In this episode of A Life Less Ordinary, we visit perfumer Lyn Harris of her eponymous brand Perfumer H at her storefront and laboratory as she collaborates with Sotheby's to translate her olfactory vision of three Old Masters paintings from the Grasset Collection.

In one of the most exciting sensory responses to a Sotheby’s art collection, Lyn has created three bespoke perfumes for three different works from the Grasset Collection (from Abraham Govaerts, Osias Beert the Elder, and Peter Binoit). This episode is all about how art inspires Lyn’s life and work, and how an influential creator can respond to specific art works in the most unexpected and timeless ways.

Perfumer Lyn Harris Interprets Old Masters: Top Notes, Fragrant Florals, Insects and Inspiration

Learn More

Titian’s sumptuous depictions of the tragic tale of Venus and Adonis have always ranked among the most highly-prized of the Renaissance master’s works, with renditions crowning the great European Royal and Noble collections of the past and starring in the collections of the world’s most illustrious public institutions today.

One of the very finest versions of Titian’s “best-selling” subject is now to appear at Sotheby’s London auction on 7 December 2022 (Estimate £8–12 million), becoming the most important painting by the artist to be offered at auction this century, and bringing with it fresh insights into the long history of this celebrated work.

Old Master Paintings

Titian's Timeless Venus and Adonis Comes to Auction

Over the course of a decades-long collecting career, Juan Manuel Grasset assembled a uniquely rich and wide-ranging collection of 17th-century Dutch and Flemish paintings, crowned with a magnificent Venetian view by Canaletto. Though encompassing both landscapes and still lifes, it is the latter that form the heart of the Grasset collection, telling the story of the evolution of the genre, and together constituting one of the greatest private collections of 17th-century Dutch and Flemish still lifes ever assembled.