Jan van Kessel

The actual painting is softer in tone than the catalogue illustration suggests. The panel consists of two planks joined horizontally, and is bevelled on all sides. The panel is in good condition. The paint surface has grown slightly thin, mainly in the brown and blue tones. Two small dents, which have been retouched, are visible in the sky to the background. Small discoloured retouchings can be observed throughout, e.g. on the foreground to the lower left, in the barrel, in the rocks, the foliage and in the goats. Otherwise, the paint surface seems to be in good condition. The painting is under a clear layer of varnish as well as under a fine layer of dirt. Inspection under ultra violet light is partially obscured by the varnish layer but does confirm the scattered retouchings as mentioned above. Offered in a decorative carved gilt wood frame in good condition.
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Long confused with the better-known artist Jan (I) van Kessel (also known as Jan van Kessel the Elder), the painter of this barn still life was first documented as a pupil of Simon de Vos in 1634-35. The oeuvre of this "other" Jan van Kessel consists of approximately 30 still lifes, ranging from fruit pieces to more extensive fruit and vegetable still lifes with goats set in or just outside a barn. Compare, for example, two signed works with similar motifs, one sold, Vienna, Dorotheum, 18 May 1914, lot 31, and another in the Gemäldegalerie, Augsburg (inv. no. 4890).

The signature is congruent with other works signed by this artist and differs from the calligraphy used by Jan (I) van Kessel, since the signature on the present work ends with a small loop of the L.¹


1. See A. van der Willigen and F.G. Meijer, A Dictionary of Dutch and Flemish Still-Life Painters Working in Oils 1525-1725, Leiden 2003, p. 122.