Lotto No. 112


Jan van Kessel I


Jan van Kessel I - Dipinti antichi

(Antwerp 1626–1679)
A wreath of flowers surrounding a cartouche with the Holy Family and putti,
signed: J. V. Kessel fecit,
oil on canvas, 119.4 x 88.9 cm, framed

Provenance:
sale, Campo & Campo, Antwerp, 12 December 2000, lot 605;
Private collection, Belgium

Literature:
K. Ertz, Die Maler Jan van Kessel, Lingen 2012, p. 346, no. 600

Klaus Ertz dates the present painting to the period around 1660. The figures in the present painting were probably executed by Cornelis Schut (1597–1655).

Jan van Kessel looks back on a well-established Flemish iconography in this richly decorated flower piece. He was a pupil of the Antwerp artist Daniel Seghers, whose style he seems to have adopted for the present painting, which may also have been influenced by the work of Jan Davidsz. de Heem, one of the leading still life painters in Flanders. The flower garland with a stone cartouche in the centre of the composition became a trademark of Daniel Seghers’s painting. An important Flemish pictorial innovation, it can be traced back to the beginning of the seventeenth century and the work of Jan Brueghel the Elder. In his collection in Milan, Cardinal Carlo Borromeo, who was later canonised, preserved a composition of the Madonna and Child framed by a garland of flowers by Jan Brueghel the Elder. Interestingly, the religious importance of art was discussed in Carlo Borromeo’s circle as much as art’s ability to mimic reality.

The image of the flower garland enclosing a religious motif thus allowed for such pictures to be viewed from both a religious and art-theoretical perspective. Bearing this in mind, we can understand how the present painting would equally have stimulated religious contemplation and a theoretical discourse as to the realism in painting. The former is invited by the biblical image of the shepherds learning about Christ’s birth and by the opulence of the flowers and their individual symbolic meanings as a reflection of the glory of God. The latter is brought about by the dual realities created by the lifeless material of the colourless stone at the centre of the composition and of the contrasting, vividly rendered flowers and crawling insects, which add vitality to the floral garland surrounding the central cartouche.

Esperto: Damian Brenninkmeyer Damian Brenninkmeyer
+43 1 515 60 403

oldmasters@dorotheum.com

17.10.2017 - 18:00

Stima:
EUR 80.000,- a EUR 120.000,-

Jan van Kessel I


(Antwerp 1626–1679)
A wreath of flowers surrounding a cartouche with the Holy Family and putti,
signed: J. V. Kessel fecit,
oil on canvas, 119.4 x 88.9 cm, framed

Provenance:
sale, Campo & Campo, Antwerp, 12 December 2000, lot 605;
Private collection, Belgium

Literature:
K. Ertz, Die Maler Jan van Kessel, Lingen 2012, p. 346, no. 600

Klaus Ertz dates the present painting to the period around 1660. The figures in the present painting were probably executed by Cornelis Schut (1597–1655).

Jan van Kessel looks back on a well-established Flemish iconography in this richly decorated flower piece. He was a pupil of the Antwerp artist Daniel Seghers, whose style he seems to have adopted for the present painting, which may also have been influenced by the work of Jan Davidsz. de Heem, one of the leading still life painters in Flanders. The flower garland with a stone cartouche in the centre of the composition became a trademark of Daniel Seghers’s painting. An important Flemish pictorial innovation, it can be traced back to the beginning of the seventeenth century and the work of Jan Brueghel the Elder. In his collection in Milan, Cardinal Carlo Borromeo, who was later canonised, preserved a composition of the Madonna and Child framed by a garland of flowers by Jan Brueghel the Elder. Interestingly, the religious importance of art was discussed in Carlo Borromeo’s circle as much as art’s ability to mimic reality.

The image of the flower garland enclosing a religious motif thus allowed for such pictures to be viewed from both a religious and art-theoretical perspective. Bearing this in mind, we can understand how the present painting would equally have stimulated religious contemplation and a theoretical discourse as to the realism in painting. The former is invited by the biblical image of the shepherds learning about Christ’s birth and by the opulence of the flowers and their individual symbolic meanings as a reflection of the glory of God. The latter is brought about by the dual realities created by the lifeless material of the colourless stone at the centre of the composition and of the contrasting, vividly rendered flowers and crawling insects, which add vitality to the floral garland surrounding the central cartouche.

Esperto: Damian Brenninkmeyer Damian Brenninkmeyer
+43 1 515 60 403

oldmasters@dorotheum.com


Hotline dell'acquirente lun-ven: 10.00 - 17.00
old.masters@dorotheum.at

+43 1 515 60 403
Asta: Dipinti antichi
Tipo d'asta: Asta in sala
Data: 17.10.2017 - 18:00
Luogo dell'asta: Wien | Palais Dorotheum
Esposizione: 07.10. - 17.10.2017