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KESSEL, Jan van/ ARTISTS
1650-1899/ ART MAIN
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(b. 1626, Antwerpen, d.
1679, Antwerpen)
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Flemish still life and flower painter active
in Antwerp, where he became a Guild member in 1645. He continued the
traditions of his grandfather, Jan "Velvet" Brueghel, and was
also influenced by Daniel Seghers. Van Kessel painted garlands and
bouquets of flowers, but is best known for small, jewel-like pictures,
often on copper, of insects or shells against a light background,
executed with strong colour and great exactitude. Good examples of his
prolific output are in Oxford (Ashmolean), Cambridge (Fitzwilliam), and
Madrid (Prado).
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Jan Van Kessel-
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Jan Van Kessel amazon.co.uk
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Still-Life
Oil on copper, 41,9 x
76,9 cm
Galleria Doria-Pamphili, Rome |
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This Flemish artist's teacher
and uncle was Jan Brueghel the Younger, and therefore he was a direct
descendant on his mother's side from Pieter the Elder and Jan the Elder. He
painted chiefly still-lifes, frequently representing food laid out
sumptuously on light-coloured tables and depicted with the delicacy of a
miniaturist, using lively colours of a predominately red tint laid on with
the tip of the brush.
The documentary, informative,
educational, and communicative function of these richly laid tables, in
which the individual objects are simply added on and depicted from a
slightly raised viewpoint, is combined with the evident intention of
demonstrating the affluence of the wealthy patrons of these works. It is
also possible to discern allegorical intentions alluding to the five senses
or the four elements, but while such an interpretation is quite plausible,
the principal aim is a purely aesthetic one, offering this profusion of
beautiful objects, rendered with exquisite skill, as a simple feast for the
eyes.
There is a companion piece to
this painting, a variation on the same theme, also on show in the Galleria
Doria-Pamphili
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Still Life with Fruit and
Shellfish
1653
Oil on canvas
Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence
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