Jan van Kessel the Elder

Life & Legacy

Jan van Kessel the Elder or Jan van Kessel (I) (baptized 5 April 1626 – 17 April 1679) was a Flemish painter active in Antwerp in the mid-17th century. A versatile artist, he practiced in many genres including studies of insects, floral still lifes, marines, river landscapes, paradise landscapes, allegorical compositions, scenes with animals and genre scenes. A scion of the Brueghel family many of his subjects took inspiration of the work of his grandfather Jan Brueghel the Elder as well as from the earlier generation of Flemish painters such as Daniel Seghers, Joris Hoefnagel and Frans Snyders. Van Kessel's works were highly prized by his contemporaries and were collected by skilled artisans, wealthy merchants, nobles and foreign luminaries throughout Europe.