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Lot Essay
In his Het Gulden Cabinet vande Edel Vry Schilder-Const (The Golden Cabinet of the Noble Liberal Art of Painting) of 1662, Cornelis de Bie described Jan van Kessel I as a ‘painter very renowned in flowers’. Van Kessel initially trained in the workshop of the Antwerp history painter Simon de Vos before completing his studies under his maternal uncle, Jan Brueghel II.
The present painting once formed the upper left portion of a floral cartouche with the Virgin and Child at center which was cut down in the second half of the twentieth century. The upper right corner, which was also latterly made into a floral bouquet, was likewise published by Klaus Ertz (op. cit., no. 510). A nearly identical arrangement of flowers appears in another floral cartouche by van Kessel which was also cut down and subsequently made into a floral bouquet (for this painting, see F.G. Meijer, 'Twee is niet altijd meer dan één / Two is not always more than one', RKD Bulletin, 1997, pp. 16-17).
The present painting once formed the upper left portion of a floral cartouche with the Virgin and Child at center which was cut down in the second half of the twentieth century. The upper right corner, which was also latterly made into a floral bouquet, was likewise published by Klaus Ertz (op. cit., no. 510). A nearly identical arrangement of flowers appears in another floral cartouche by van Kessel which was also cut down and subsequently made into a floral bouquet (for this painting, see F.G. Meijer, 'Twee is niet altijd meer dan één / Two is not always more than one', RKD Bulletin, 1997, pp. 16-17).