Study of Butterfly and Insects

c. 1655

Jan van Kessel the Elder

Painter, Flemish, 1626 - 1679

A butterfly, moths, and insects alight on or around a twig with green leaves and straw-yellow berries in this horizontal painting. The background is putty gray, and the objects and insects cast pale shadows to our right. The twig angles slightly upward from left to right in the center of the composition. Wide green leaves sprout from its top edge and three clusters of gleaming berries rest along the table closer to us. A butterfly perches on a leaf to the left on the twig, its wings spread and the antennae touching the leaf. The edges of the wings are charcoal grey with tan spots, and closer to its body, the wings are gold, dotted with black. A bug with a narrow brown body and nearly translucent wings sits near the center of the branch, and a moth perches on the broken end of the twig to our right. The moth’s wings are closed above its body. Its body is striped with yellow and black, and the white wings have black dots. Another moth, with its tan wings also closed, sits on a sprig of berries near the lower right corner of the painting. There are two more insects with spindly bodies and thin, narrow wings, one on a stem of branches near the lower left corner, and one on a green leaf near the upper right. More insects rest on the gray surface around the twig and berries. Along the bottom edge of the painting is a caterpillar with a golden yellow body with black spots, and a red face. Clustered near the top left corner, around the butterfly, are a brick-red bug with closed, sheer wings and six legs, a dark green insect also with six legs and yellow bands on its body, and an insect like a yellow jacket. At the top right is an elongated ladybug.

Media Options

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Artwork overview

  • Medium

    oil on copper

  • Credit Line

    Gift of John Dimick

  • Dimensions

    overall: 11 x 14.8 cm (4 5/16 x 5 13/16 in.)

  • Accession

    1983.19.3


Artwork history & notes

Provenance

Comte de Joigny, France. (Brian Koetser Gallery, London), in 1966.[1] John Dimick, Chevy Chase, Maryland; gift 1983 to NGA.
[1] According to the catalogue of the 1966 exhibition at the Brian Koetser Gallery, the painting came from the collection of the "Count of Joigny, France." A label taken from the back of the painting (in NGA curatorial files) is from the autumn exhibition presented by Leonard Koetser Ltd., but no year is indicated. Both Koetser galleries held annual autumn exhibitions that frequently featured Dutch and Flemish paintings.

Associated Names

Exhibition History

1966

  • Autumn Exhibition of Old Master Paintings, Brian Koetser Gallery, London, 1966, no. 44, repro.

1998

  • A Collector's Cabinet, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1998, no. 29, fig. 60.

1999

  • A Moral Compass: Seventeenth and Eighteenth Century Painting in the Netherlands, Grand Rapids Art Museum, 1999, no. 13, repro.

Bibliography

1985

  • European Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1985: 214, repro.

2005

  • Wheelock, Arthur K., Jr. Flemish Paintings of the Seventeenth Century. The Collections of the National Gallery of Art Systematic Catalogue. Washington, D.C., 2005: 120-122, color repro.

2020

  • Wheelock, Arthur K., Jr. Clouds, ice, and Bounty: The Lee and Juliet Folger Collection of Seventeenth-Century Dutch and Flemish Paintings. Exh. cat. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 2020: 31, 32, fig. 15.

Wikidata ID

Q20177410


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