Jan van Kessel the Elder

Flemish, 1626 - 1679

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Flemish painter (1626–1679)

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A skull, a glass vase of flowers, an hourglass, and two small dishes are arranged on a charcoal-gray ledge against a fawn-brown background in this vertical still life painting. Soap bubbles float around the objects to our right, and several insects alight on the flowers or ledge. At the center of the composition, the dark, parchment-colored skull is missing the lower jaw and front teeth, and the crown is wrapped with a single stalk of wheat. To our right of the skull and tucked in near the hollow of the cheek, a short, glass vase with a bulbous bottom, narrow neck, and slightly flaring lip holds four blush-pink flowers, perhaps roses, along with a white flower and a red one, perhaps carnations. A vine of royal-blue, trumpet-like flowers with pale yellow centers could be morning glories. Three of the pink roses are in full bloom and one, near the hourglass, is in bud form. The red and white carnations rest next to each other on or near the top of the skull. Deep green leaves fill the spaces between the loosely gathered flowers. Next to the vase, to our right, an hourglass has a cedar-red wooden frame, and about half the sand has dropped into the bottom bulb. A shallow dish, perhaps a shell, sits atop the hourglass with a short straw or stick resting against the lip to our right. One glistening soap bubble perches on the far end of the straw. Another small bowl and stick, this set of burnished gold, sits between the vase and skull. One of the blooming roses rests next to the skull, on the front left corner of the ledge. Several delicate soap bubbles rise above the hourglass along the right side of the painting. A golden brown moth with white markings floats above the bubbles, about to land on one of the roses. On the opposite side, a white moth with one black spot on its wing rests on a leaf near another rose. A white moth with black speckled wings clings to the front of the ledge, and a black and dark caterpillar flecked with gold climbs up under it. The artist painted his initials, “JVK,” on the front of the ledge, near a small red beetle. Light falls across the still life from our left, and panes from a window outside our view are reflected in the bubbles and on the glass vase.
Jan van Kessel the Elder, Vanitas Still Life, c. 1665/1670, oil on copper, Gift of Maida and George Abrams, 1995.74.2

Vanitas Still Life

Jan van Kessel the Elder · c. 1665/1670 · oil on copper ·  Accession ID  1995.74.2

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.
Jan van Kessel the Elder, Study of Butterfly and Insects, c. 1655, oil on copper, Gift of John Dimick, 1983.19.3

Study of Butterfly and Insects

Jan van Kessel the Elder · c. 1655 · oil on copper ·  Accession ID  1983.19.3

A sprig of flowering rosemary lying against an ivory-white background and the twelve insects that surround it fills this horizontal painting. Stretching nearly the length of the composition with the cut end to our left, the rosemary has blunted, needle-like, gently curling teal-green leaves and small periwinkle-blue flowers along the ash-brown stem. Several insects perch on the sprig while others are seen as if looking from overhead, resting on the white background. The three largest insects perch along the top of the sprig, with an ivory-white butterfly with moss-green and black markings to the left, a black and golden, fuzzy bumblebee near the center, and a lemon-yellow butterfly with red antennae to our right. A tiny red insect, perhaps a ladybug without spots, sits on a leaf between the bee and yellow butterfly, and a small wasp-like insect rests on a leaf in at the lower left. Another mosquito-like insect alights on the surface nearby, next to a beetle with a honey-orange body with black, almost tiger-like stripes. A large cockroach sitting near the lower right corner has six spindly legs, a mahogany-colored abdomen, a black thorax, and tiny, black head. Spaced somewhat evenly across the top of the panel are a brick-red, winged insect to the left, a mint-green, beetle-like bug near a moth patterned with bone white and black, and a black, fly-like insect to our right. Lit from the upper left, the rosemary and insects cast shadows on the surface. The artist signed and dated the work with gray in the lower left corner: “J v. kessel . . f. Ao 1653.”
Jan van Kessel the Elder, Insects and a Sprig of Rosemary, 1653, oil on copper, The Richard C. Von Hess Foundation, Nell and Robert Weidenhammer Fund, Barry D. Friedman, and Friends of Dutch Art, 2018.41.1

Insects and a Sprig of Rosemary

Jan van Kessel the Elder · 1653 · oil on copper ·  Accession ID  2018.41.1

Bibliography

1753

  • Houbraken, Arnold. De Groote Schouburgh der Nederlantsche Konstschilders en Schilderessen. 3 vols. in 1. The Hague, 1753 (Reprint: Amsterdam, 1976): 2:139-140; 3:238.

1864

  • Rombouts, Philippe Félix, and Theodoor Frans Xavier van Lerius. De Liggeren en andere historische archieven der Antwerpsche Sint Lucasgilde. 2 vols. Antwerp and The Hague, 1864-1876: 2:62, 65, 155, 162, 467 (reprint Amsterdam, 1961).

1907

  • Edited by Ulrich Thieme and Felix Becker. Allgemeines Lexikon der bildenden Künstler von der Antike bis zur Gegenwart 1907-1950, 20(1927): 201-202.

1971

  • Bie, Cornelis de. Het gulden cabinet van de edel vry schilderconst. Edited by Gerard Lemmens. Reprint of Antwerp, 1661/1662. Soest, 1971: 409-411.

1980

  • Bruegel. Une dynastie de peintres. Exh. cat. Palais des Beaux-Arts, Brussels, 1980: 313-315.

1983

  • Greindl, Edith. Les peintres flamands de nature morte au XVIIe siècle. Brussels, 1983: 156-162, 365-368.

1985

  • Hairs, Marie-Louise. The Flemish Flower Painters in the XVIIth Century. Trans. Eva Grzelak. Brussels, 1985: 287-300, 483-485.

1993

  • Sutton, Peter C., and Marjorie E. Wieseman, et al. The Age of Rubens. Exh. cat. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; Toledo (Ohio) Museum of Art. Boston, 1993: 512.

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: 119.