Jan van Kessel the Elder Antwerp 1626 - 1679

Count de Villalcazar de Sirga;
Thence by descent until sold, London, Philips, 14 December 1999, lot 77, for £680,000.

Brussels, , Maîtres flamands du dix-septième siècle du Prado et de collections privée espagnoles, 1975, no. 20.

D.A. Ponz, Viage de Espana, en que se da notcia de las cosas mas apreciables, y dignas de saberse, que hey en ella, Madrid 1794, vol. XVIII, pp. 235-36;
Maîtres flamands du dix-septième siècle du Prado et de collections privée espagnoles, exhibition catalogue, Brussels, Musées Royaux des Beaux-Arts de Belgique, 1975, p. 97, no. 20, reproduced on p. 74 (as formerly in the Duc d'Aveyro collection);
M.-L. Hairs, Les Peintres flamands de Fleurs au XVIIe siècle, Brussels 1985, p. 296.

"The following condition report has been provided by Sarah Walden, an independent restorer who is not an employee of Sotheby's. This painting is on a strong completely flat copper panel, supported behind by a wooden structure at the edges with a central cross bar. This backing is fairly recent as is the restoration, but the painting has clearly always been cherished and protected, to judge from its almost immaculate condition. There are some little superficial retouchings, mainly in the background and by the edges, with some little touches near the upper corners, one or two near the base edge, two in the background by the handle of the vase, and a few other background touches. The table cloth may have had a richer madder glaze, now faded. There are some tiny dark surface splashes: a vertical line of little spots in the scarlet carnation at lower right, a similar line in the red peony at upper left and at the edge of the peony at upper right. Little retouchings on the shaded lower petal of the central iris and the nearby rose are presumably over similar little splashes, with one other dark mark in the centre of the central pink rose. These are minor superficial imperfections, with extraordinarily intact detail elsewhere virtually throughout. The two scarlet peonies show the underlying circular shape of the flower emerging as the outer petals grew more transparent naturally over time. The unworn intact quality of this painting is not only the result of the exceptional original technique but also of restraint and care over centuries. This report was not done under laboratory conditions."
"This lot is offered for sale subject to Sotheby's Conditions of Business, which are available on request and printed in Sotheby's sale catalogues. The independent reports contained in this document are provided for prospective bidders' information only and without warranty by Sotheby's or the Seller."

This is one of a presumed series of ten large-scale flower paintings on copper painted in or around 1652, and probably commissioned by a Spanish patron, or ordered on behalf of one.  This one appears to be a pendant to a still life in the Heinz family collection, which is also signed and dated 1652.  A second still life in the Heinz Collection is a pendant to another picture from the series formerly on the art market, New York.¹  The remaining six flower pieces are in American and European private collections.  By chance, many of the paintings remain in pairs, but not necessarily those originally intended by the artist.  Seven of the ten coppers are signed and dated 1652.  The vessels for the flowers and the settings vary within the series, although some of them, including for example the present elaborate Chinese porcelain vase with gilt mounts sitting on a draped table, occur in more than one painting.²

This series of ten flower pieces exceeds in scale and ambition anything else that Van Kessel ever attempted, suggesting that they were made as a set for an important patron.  Although it has been suggested that this Jan van Kessel is the one who worked in Spain for Philip IV, this was in fact his son, Jan van Kessel the Younger.  By the middle of the 17th century, however, many Antwerp artists were engaged in painting pictures for the Spanish market and copper panels of this size and shape were a common medium for such works, be they landscapes, genre pictures or as here still lifes, and it seems they were made to a standard size (of approximately these dimensions, and also double this size) in order to be securely packed for shipment together.  Van Kessel may have been introduced to Spanish patrons or their agents by Daniel Seghers (1590-1661), who received many commissions from Spain, probably in part due to his connections through the Jesuit order, of which he was a member.  Van Kessel's crisp handling and his palette and tonality owes much to Seghers' example.  The present work and its companion, in which flowers sit in a glass vase, may be compared with Seghers' pendants of circa 1630 for the Escorial, where they remain today.³

Jan van Kessel was a member of the Brueghel dynasty, being the grandson of Jan Breughel the Elder.  His godfather and first teacher was his uncle, Jan Breughel the Younger.  He registered in the Antwerp Guild of St. Luke in 1634/35 as a pupil of Simon de Vos.  At age eighteen he became a master, registering in the guild as a 'blomshilder' (flower-painter).  His dated works range from 1648 to 1676.  In 1647 he married Maria van Apshoven; the couple had thirteen children, of whom two, Ferdinand Leonard (1648-1696) and Jan van Kessel (1654-1708), became painters.  In 1655 he bought a house in Antwerp called 'De Witte en de Rode Roos' (The White and the Red Rose).  Notwithstanding his earlier success, he died in 1679 in relative financial hardship, having mortgaged his house to cover debts.  Van Kessel's subjects included animals (mostly birds, fish, and insects), still lifes of fruit, vegetables, precious metalware, game, flower pieces, wreaths and garlands, the latter frequently executed in collaboration with other artists.  He also specialized in painting allegories, such as the Senses, the Elements and the Parts of the World.  Finally he painted small-scale paintings on panel and copper in a miniaturist style that attests to a degree of detailed, empirical observation worthy of a natural scientist.

1.  See I. Bergström, in Still Lifes of the Golden Age. Northern European Paintings from the Heinz Family Collection, exhibition catalogue, Washington 1989, pp. 112-14, nos. 21 and 22, reproduced; and M.E. Wieseman, in P.C. Sutton ed., The Age of Rubens, exhibition catalogue, Boston 1993, p. 513, nos. 100 and 101, reproduced pp. 514-15.
2.  In for example the painting in the Heinz collection which is also dated 1652.
3.  See Hairs, under Literature, reproduced pp. 140-41, plates 38 and 39.