Jan van Kessel was a Flemish painter of still lifes, who was the father of another painter with the same name Jan van Kessel

Jan van Kessel, junior

Jan van Kessel, junior was a Flemish painter, the son of Jan van Kessel .-Biography:...

, and Jan Brueghel the Elder

Jan Brueghel the Elder

Jan Brueghel the Elder was a Flemish painter, son of Pieter Bruegel the Elder and father of Jan Brueghel the Younger. Nicknamed "Velvet" Brueghel, "Flower" Brueghel, and "Paradise" Brueghel, of which the latter two were derived from his floral still lifes which were his favored subjects, while the...

's grandson.

He became a member of the Antwerp painters' guild and was influenced by Daniel Seghers

Daniel Seghers

Daniel Seghers was a Jesuit brother and Flemish Baroque painter who specialized in flower still lifes, and is particularly well-known for his contributions to the genre of "flower garland" painting. His paintings were collected enthusiastically by courtly patrons and he had numerous imitators...

 (1590–1661). According to Houbraken, he was famous in his lifetime for the neatness of his flower paintings and Cornelis de Bie

Cornelis de Bie

Cornelis de Bie was a Brabant rederijker, poet, jurist and minor politician from Lier.He is the author of about 64 works, mostly comedies...

wrote a poem about him.

He joined the Antwerp painters' guild in 1645 and 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.

Jan van Kessel 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.

External Link

• Works at PubHist