Jan van
Kessel Elder

Jan van Kessel the Elder (Dutch: Jan van Kessel; 1626-1679) was a Flemish painter.

At an early age he began studying with Simon de Vos and then with Bruegel the Younger, at the age of 18 he was already enrolled in the St. Luke's Guild in Antwerp. He painted birds, flowers, landscapes, portraits, sometimes on mythological and religious subjects. His composition is deliberate, his execution is colorful; the figures are weaker than the rest, the portraits are mediocre. Of his paintings are "Holy Family in a Garland of Flowers" (in Paris), "Landscape with Animals and Flowers", "Barber's Shop", "Tobacco Shop". In the Hermitage there is his painting "Venus Orders Vulcan Arms for Aeneas".