JAN VAN KESSEL THE ELDER, GONZALES COQUES | Still life with flowers in a vase (recto); Portrait of a man, bust-length, in a flat lace collar (verso)

With David H. Koetser, Geneva, from whom acquired by Baron van Dedem on 15 September 1977. 

M.-L. Hairs, The Flemish Flower Painters in the XVII Century, Brussels 1985, p. 484 (as Jan van Kessel); A. van der Hoeven, De bloemstillevens van Jan I van Kessel (1626–1679), doctoral diss., Rijksuniversiteit Groningen, 2002, cat. no. 29 (as Jan van Kessel);

P.C. Sutton, Dutch & Flemish Paintings, The Collection of Willem Baron van Dedem, London 2002, pp. 152–53, cat. nos 31 and 32 (as Jan van Kessel and Gonzales Coques);

K. Ertz, with C. Nitze-Ertz, Jan van Kessel der Ältere 1626-1679, Jan van Kessel der Jūngere 1654–1708, Jan van Kessel der ‘Andere’ ca. 1620–ca. 1661. Kritische Kataloge der Gemälde, Lingen 2012, pp. 102 and 322, cat. no. 544, reproduced in colour p. 108, fig. 103 (as Jan van Kessel and ?Gonzales Coques, and as in its original frame).

The following condition report is provided by Sarah Walden who is an external specialist and not an employee of Sotheby's: Jan van Kessel the Elder. Flowerpiece. Signed I.V.KESSEL.F This miniature is on a copper panel, which has a slight curve vertically down the centre and slightly also horizontally lower down. There is one faintly indented scratch just visible under a raking light across the three upper flowers, however the paint surface seems to have remained perfectly unworn and finely intact throughout. There may be light past retouching just visible under ultra violet light in the uppermost background, but the delicacy of the detail is exceptionally well preserved within the glazing of each flower. Gonzales Coques. Portrait of a Man. This painting is on the other side of the copper panel with the flowerpiece, having the same very slight curves. In the upper background part of the vertical curve there have been a few minuscule lost flakes, with one other tiny flake perhaps by the left eyebrow and in the chin. Faint past retouching is just visible in the upper background under ultra violet light with one small touch also on the left jaw line. However the portrait is finely preserved elsewhere throughout. 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."

While Van Kessel painted many still lifes composed of harmoniously-arranged flowers in glass vases set against a dark background, none other is executed on such a small scale as the present work. Miniature portraits by Gonzales Coques, who painted the likeness on the reverse, are equally rare. It seems likely that this little double-sided painting served as a highly personal memento or engagement present, most probably for a member of Antwerp’s rich, burgher class, amongst whom both Van Kessel and Coques’ intimate cabinet pieces were highly sought after. The miniature format of this tiny oval copper takes nothing away from the precision of Van Kessel’s observation and brushwork, the blooms and reflections in the vase depicted with forensic accuracy. A member of the Brueghel dynasty of painters, Van Kessel almost certainly trained with his uncle Jan Brueghel the Younger. The delicacy and characterisation of these flowers on such a diminutive scale, however, strongly recall the exquisite still life miniatures of his grandfather, the great progenitor of Flemish still life painting, Jan Brueghel the Elder. It was the naturalism and fresh, lucid colours found in the present work that brought Van Kessel so much success, attested to by Erasmus Quellinus’ inscription on his engraved portrait of 1649: ‘highly esteemed painter of flowers’.

Just as Van Kessel quickly became specialised as a painter of flower pieces, Coques earned an esteemed reputation as a portraitist of small-scale, elegant single figures and groups. This portrait reflects Coques’ facility for working on a miniature scale on copper with the grace and fluency that won him the epithet ‘the little Van Dyck’, with whom he is also presumed to have worked and possibly travelled. The only securely attributed miniature portrait by Coques is that which dates to 1664, of almost identical dimensions to this oval, on copper, depicting Jan Baptista Anthoine.¹ Several other miniature portraits, however, with which the present work also shares many qualities, have been attributed to Coques by way of comparison with that likeness.² Though as yet unidentified, the sitter in this portrait bears a strong resemblance to the man in black standing on the left of the group portrait, thought to be the family of Melchior de Stanza (which also includes a self-portrait by Coques).³

We are grateful to Dr Marion Lisken-Pruss for confirming the attribution to Coques on the basis of a digital image and for proposing a date of execution of circa 1657–60.

1 Sold London, Christie's, 7 July 1995, lot 230 (as attributed to Coques); see M. Lisken-Pruss, Gonzales Coques (1614–1684): der kleine Van Dyck, Turnhout 2013, pp. 251–52, cat. no. 43a, reproduced in colour p. 373 (as Coques).

2 See Lisken-Pruss 2013, pp. 282–85, cat. nos U21–U27.

3 See Lisken-Pruss 2013, pp. 244–46, cat. no. 33; a version attributed to Coques and workshop (cat. no. 33c) reproduced p. 422.