Jan van Kessel the Elder

Jan van Kessel the Elder
Antwerp 1626 – Antwerp 1679

A Still Life of Tulips and Roses, with Butterflies and Dragonflies, in a Glass Vase

Signed with the monogram ‘J.V.K.’ | Lower left
Oil on panel
H. 25 cm. W. 19,5 cm.

PROVENANCE
Private collection | Germany

EXPERTISE
With a certificate by Dr. Klaus Ertz, Lingen, dated 11 March 2022, dateing the picture to the years around 1660/1670


CATALOGUE NOTE
The small-format, finely executed and extremely charming still life with his bouquet of flowers, which is arranged in a glass vase standing on a stone bench, can be described as a particularly typical work of the Flemish painter Jan van Kessel the Elder, as Klaus Ertz briefly but aptly puts it in his report: “Even without the authentic monogram, there would be no doubt about the attribution of this still life to Jan van Kessel the Elder.” In front of the undifferentiated dark background, the colours of the individual flowers come into their own, and his compositions are also inconceivable without the additional depiction of insects, such as the butterflies and dragonflies that can be discovered at the edges of the bouquet in our painting.

Jan van Kessel was the son of Hiëronymus van Kessel and Paschasia Brueghel (daughter of Jan Brueghel I (Velvet). He was active in Antwerp where he became a member of the Guild of St.Luke in 1645. He continued the tradition of his grandfather and was also influenced by Daniël Seghers. Van Kessel painted garlands and bouquets of flowers, but he is best known for small jewel-like pictures often on copper of insects or shells with vivid colours and great exactitude of detail.