Jan van Kessel the Elder

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File:Jan van Kessel - gulden cabinet.png
Jan van Kessel in Cornelis de Bie's Het Gulden Cabinet.


Jan van Kessel (baptized 5 April 1626, Antwerp – 17 April 1679, Antwerp) was a Flemish painter of still lifes and Jan Brueghel the Elder's grandson.

Life

File:Jan van Kessel (I) Insekten.jpg
Insects and garden pansy, 1679

Jan van Kessel the Elder was born into a family of artists and was member of the famous Flemish dynasty of painters of the Brueghel family. The painter was the son of Hieronymus van Kessel the Elder and Paschasia Brueghel (the daughter of Jan Brueghel the Elder), thus becoming Jan Brueghel the Elder's grandson.

As a result of being born into this family he received his artistic training through the family members, that were like him all artists. He was a pupil of his older brother Hieronymous van Kessel the younger, and his uncle Jan Brueghel the Younger.[1]

He became a member of the Antwerp Guild of Saint Luke in 1644 as "blomschilder" (flower painter).[1] The 17th-century Flemish biographer Cornelis de Bie included van Kessel in his book on Flemish painters called Het Gulden Kabinet.[2] Arnold Houbraken praised him for the neatness of his flower paintings for which he was known during his lifetime.[3]

As part of the Brueghel family, he went on training other painters and also his own family members. His pupils were his sons Jan van Kessel the Younger and Ferdinand van Kessel.[1]

File:Jan van Kessel de Oude - Stilleven met schaal-en schelpdieren.jpg
Still Life with fish

Work

Jan van Kessel specialized in small-scale pictures of subjects gleaned from the natural world such as floral still lifes and allegorical series showing animal kingdoms, the four elements, the senses, or the parts of the world. Obsessed with picturesque detail, van Kessel worked from nature and used illustrated scientific texts as sources for filling his pictures with objects represented with almost scientific accuracy.

He painted many animals (especially insects) and flowers, as well as some mythological and biblical scenes. His choice of subject leaned towards those which included animals and plants.[1]

He was influenced by Daniel Seghers and the scientific naturalism of Joris Hoefnagel, particularly Hoefnagel's studies of flowers and insects.[1][4]

There are two paintings by Jan van Kessel in the High Museum of Art in Atlanta ("Butterflies, Caterpillars, and Other Insects").

Gallery

  • Kessel, Jan van, Sr. - Europa - Detail "Ian van Kessel".jpg

    Autograph, made by insects and caterpillars

  • Jan van Kessel (I) - Butterflies and Insects - WGA12140.jpg

    Butterflies and Insects

  • 'Butterflies, Other Insects, and Flowers' by Jan van Kessel, 1659, High Museum of Art.jpg
  • Jan van Kessel 001.jpg

    Insects

  • Jan van Kessel 002.jpg

    Insects

  • Jan van Kessel de Oude - Rozen, tulpen, een iris en andere bloemen etc.jpg

    Roses, tulips, and other flowers'

  • Jan van Kessel de Oude - Vlinders en andere insecten, mosselen, slakken - etc.jpg

    Still life

  • Masques made by seashells.

  • Jan van Kessel de Oude - Stilleven met druiven en ander fruit op een schotel etc.jpg

    Still life

  • Lost Animals Van Kessel.jpg

    Lost Animals or Four Corners of the World. c.1655-60

  • Jan van Kessel 004.jpg

    Still life of fish on a river bank

  • Jan van Kessel de Oude - Wilde aardbeien in een Chinees porselein kom etc.jpg

    Still life

  • Jan van Kessel (I) - Harbour Scene with Fish - WGA12137.jpg

    Harbour Scene with Fish

File:Kessel, Jan van - The Soap Bubbles - 1660s.jpg
The Soap Bubbles - Still life by Kessel and Tenniers. The surrounding garland is by Kessel, the centerpiece is attributed to David Teniers the Younger.

Brueghel family tree

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 Jan van Kessel (I) at the Netherlands Institute for Art History (Dutch)
  2. ↑ Johannes van Kessel, page 409, in Het Gulden Cabinet, 1662
  3. ↑ Johannes van Kessel biography in De groote schouburgh der Nederlantsche konstschilders en schilderessen (1718) by Arnold Houbraken, courtesy of the Digital library for Dutch literature (Dutch)
  4. ↑ Jan van Kessel on Venetian Red

External links

  • Works at PubHist
  • Vermeer and The Delft School, a full text exhibition catalog from The Metropolitan Museum of Art, which contains material on Jan van Kessel, senior


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