(Antwerp 1626–1679)
Roses, a tulip, a lily and forget-me-nots in a glass vase,
signed lower centre: J. van Kessel,
oil on copper, 29 x 24.5 cm, framed

We are grateful to Fred Meijer for confirming the attribution to Jan van Kessel I on the basis of photographs.

The present still life of a tulip, lily, roses and forget-me-nots, all vibrantly arranged in a glass vase upon a stone ledge, is a typically refined work from the oeuvre of Jan van Kessel the Elder. The accuracy of the depiction of the butterfly and the dragonfly shown alighting on the bouquet, with the snail beneath, along with the carefully registered forms of the flowers, are testament to the exquisite studies of nature for which van Kessel was celebrated by his contemporaries. In the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries, the study of both art and nature went hand in hand, with exotic animal and flower samples kept side by side with paintings in the so-called Wunderkammer.

Van Kessel is noteworthy for his dynamic arrangements, as here, with the lavae each flanking the stems of the flowers on either side, showing an earlier stage of development of the dragonfly and moth above. This sense of birth and rebirth would have had a religious significance, just as the red rose was symbol of the blood of Christ and the miracles of the passion, while the lily was seen to stand for purity, and so on. Van Kessel was sought after as a collaborator by many leading Flemish figure painters, typically to paint carefully constructed garlands around their central compositions. In this capacity he worked with his uncle, David Teniers the Younger, Thomas Willeboirts Bosschaert, Hendrick van Balen the Elder and Erasmus Quellinus the Elder.