Flemish painting and De Jonckheere Gallery's old master paintings
Provenance: private collection.
In this composition executed with quite broad brushstrokes, a large porcelain bowl with a blue and white floral decoration, set upon a pedestal, generously overflows with tulips, roses, carnations and various other flowers, some of which are beginning to wilt, their heads drooping on the stem. The magnificence of this bouquet, in which the painter contrasts the bright blue of the bowl and the deeper tones of the flowers, is counterbalanced by the sizeable squash in darker hues, which the artist has placed on the ground. Upholding ‘tradition‘, the painter includes two animals in the composition, in this case, a pair of cocks, who lend a picturesque note to the scene, whilst a vista in the background affords a view of a large swathe of sky.
1626 - Antwerp - 1679
The grandson of the "Velvet" Brueghel on his mother’s side, and the nephew of both Jan Brueghel the Younger and David Teniers, Jan van Kessel was influenced more by his grandfather and his uncle than by his apprenticeship to Simon de Vos.
He specialised in painting animals, birds, amphibians and insects, which he included notably in representations of the Four Elements, the Four Corners of the Earth, (Museums of Cambridge, Madrid, Prague, and Strasbourg), allegories, and fables as well as very small-scale gallery scenes. Jan van Kessel was also one of the most brillant floral painters of the century. His roses often pink in colour, and his tulips are finely detailed and arranged in airy bouquets. This finesse in handling detail is also seen in his still lives of fruit and in the objects included in them such as dishes, baskets, and vases. The charm of his compositions, and their exquisite and precise rendering, together with the rich and dazzling hues of his palette have made Jan van Kessel one of the most appealing and highly-regarded of the Flemish masters.
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