8 - Pseudo-Jan van KESSEL the Younger (active c. 1660–1750)

Pseudo-Jan van KESSEL the Younger (active c. 1660–1750) Still Life with a Basket of Grapes and Vases of Flowers Copper. Missing sections and restorations 16.5 x 21.7 cm In 2017, Fred R. Meijer grouped together under the conventional name “Pseudo-Jan van Kessel II” a collection of small still lifes that had generally been mistakenly attributed until then to the Antwerp artists Jan van Kessel the Younger (1654–1708) or his father, van Kessel the Elder (for example, in the 2012 monograph by Klaus Erzt and Christa Nitze-Ertz). Nearly two hundred paintings by this artist are now cataloged and are characterized by a combination of a limited number of motifs, in compositions ranging from the simplest to the most elaborate, none of which are (authentically) signed. Most feature a basket of grapes at the center of the image. Although Flemish in character, in the tradition of Jan Brueghel the Velours, these small panels and copper plates may have been produced in Southern Europe, as many examples are preserved in or originate from Italy—for example, the pair of still lifes in the Doria Pamphili Gallery in Rome. In these two paintings, we find the same gadrooned entablature decoration as on our small copperplate.