Master Paintings and Sculpture Part II
Master Paintings and Sculpture Part II
Property from an Important Private Collection
An Allegory of Air
Auction Closed
January 27, 09:38 PM GMT
Estimate
120,000 - 180,000 USD
Lot Details
Description
Property from an Important Private Collection
Jan van Kessel the Elder
Antwerp 1626 - 1679
An Allegory of Air
signed and dated lower center: J.v. kessel fecit anno 166[1?], (anno 1661 more faint than the rest of the signature)
oil on canvas
canvas: 23⅝ by 32⅞ in.; 60 by 83.5 cm.
framed: 30¼ by 39⅜ in.; 76.8 by 100 cm.
In this wonderful Allegory of Air, which is teeming with birds of every variety, Jan van Kessel the Elder revisits a subject first made popular by his grandfather, Jan Brueghel the Elder. Such allegorical works were often repeated with and without variation by his son Jan Brueghel the Younger (uncle of Van Kessel), in whose workshop the young Van Kessel trained. The present composition, though influenced by his predecessors, is largely of Van Kessel's own devising.
We are grateful to Fred G. Meijer for endorsing the present attribution on the basis of digital photographs.