I would like to have a room, an empty room.
In a sunny day of late spring, I would spread seashells on the floor looking for those shiny and mysterious shapes painted in this Flemish still-life dated around 1659.
The author, Jan van Kessel the Elder (1626-79), lived in Antwerp where he was a distinguished flower painter member of the prestigious St. Luke’s Guild. Painting was a family tradition, his father being Hieronymus van Kessel, a portrait painter, and his mother, Paschaise Brueghel, the daughter of Jan Brueghel, famous for his still-life paintings of flowers. It was a dynasty of talented painters that, begun in the sixteenth century, would continue up to the first years of the eighteenth century.
Jan’s subjects include allegories, fables and landscapes, but his best compositions are those suggested by the collections inspired to natural history with flowers, butterflies, insects and shells. Art reflected the increasing interest in natural science, a study more and more based on direct observation and experiments rather than abstract theories, spurred by the introduction of new exotic specimens from the West and East Indies derived from the Dutch successful trades. Painters glorified the abundance of nature and the prosperity of the country with beautiful paintings whose subjects never withered, an important tool for scholars and valuable works of art. Still-life paintings, until then an exercise for beginners, turned into a refined and very competitive market divided into specialized niches according to the subjects. In the “vanitas” still-life, the passage of time and transience of life were remarked by skulls, bubbles and watches, the “banquet” still-life offered the image of sumptuous and luxurious tables that invited to celebrate, and the “floral” still-life exalted the fleeting beauty of flowers.
Shells were often part of these compositions as rare and exotic specimens, as symbols of the sea that brought wealth to the country. By the beginning of the eighteenth century, seashells from the South Seas were expensive objects of desire for rich collectors, fascinated by their beauty and endless variety. Their purchase was considered an investment and a sign of distinction; specialized clubs thirved. Jan van Kessel included seashells in his paintings, often working on wood and copper, painting from nature or scientific texts, to create panels to decorate collectors’ cabinets. In this painting, a white background emphazises the individual specimens, represented with extreme attention to details, colours, shadows, and shapes. Butterflies, insects a blue flower of borage and shells: Tectus Conus, Conus Marmoreus, Strobus Fasliatus, Murex Rectirostris, Conus Recurvus and other shells.
Photos:
A Swallowtail (Papilio machaon), a Red Admiral (Vanessa atalanta) and other Insects with shells and a sprig of borage (Borago officinalis), Jan van Kessel Wikipedia commons;
TravelinaGarden.
Jan’s subjects include allegories, fables and landscapes, but his best compositions are those suggested by the collections inspired to natural history with flowers, butterflies, insects and shells. Art reflected the increasing interest in natural science, a study more and more based on direct observation and experiments rather than abstract theories, spurred by the introduction of new exotic specimens from the West and East Indies derived from the Dutch successful trades. Painters glorified the abundance of nature and the prosperity of the country with beautiful paintings whose subjects never withered, an important tool for scholars and valuable works of art. Still-life paintings, until then an exercise for beginners, turned into a refined and very competitive market divided into specialized niches according to the subjects. In the “vanitas” still-life, the passage of time and transience of life were remarked by skulls, bubbles and watches, the “banquet” still-life offered the image of sumptuous and luxurious tables that invited to celebrate, and the “floral” still-life exalted the fleeting beauty of flowers.
Shells were often part of these compositions as rare and exotic specimens, as symbols of the sea that brought wealth to the country. By the beginning of the eighteenth century, seashells from the South Seas were expensive objects of desire for rich collectors, fascinated by their beauty and endless variety. Their purchase was considered an investment and a sign of distinction; specialized clubs thirved. Jan van Kessel included seashells in his paintings, often working on wood and copper, painting from nature or scientific texts, to create panels to decorate collectors’ cabinets. In this painting, a white background emphazises the individual specimens, represented with extreme attention to details, colours, shadows, and shapes. Butterflies, insects a blue flower of borage and shells: Tectus Conus, Conus Marmoreus, Strobus Fasliatus, Murex Rectirostris, Conus Recurvus and other shells.
In the evening, after a useless day of research, I
would close my room and leave for the sea.
Photos:
A Swallowtail (Papilio machaon), a Red Admiral (Vanessa atalanta) and other Insects with shells and a sprig of borage (Borago officinalis), Jan van Kessel Wikipedia commons;
TravelinaGarden.
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