Basket of flowers – Jan Van KESSEL the Younger (1654-1708)

Oil on copper depicting a basket of flowers made up of roses, tulips and irises, with small florets fleshing out the larger buds carefully arranged in the basket.
Jan Van KESSEL the younger was the great-grandson of Jan BRUEGHEL de VELOURS. He received his first training from his father Jan Van KESSEL the elder? He soon left Antwerp for Spain in 1680, where he became a portraitist at the court of Charles II from 1686. His portraits are no longer known. He owes his fame to his still lifes, executed in the style of his father, with a taste for detail, delicate coloring and balanced composition? His Flemish style was gradually influenced by the Spanish style.
While the bulk of his floral production consists of garlands organized around festoons, his flower baskets, with their varied arrangement and variegated colors, are all the rarer and therefore all the more appreciated. Here, Brueghel’s influence is decisive: the motif of the flower basket, popular in Flemish painting, lends itself to the profusion of buds so dear to Brueghel and Osias Beert.
red tortoiseshell frame. 21×26
copper : 15,9 x 21
Good condition.
Certificate of authenticity from Georges de JONCKHEERE, November 2010.