Still Life

Master of the Guild of Saint Luke in Antwerp, Jan van Kessel the Elder made a few bouquets of flowers, more garlands surrounding cartouches but mostly he did tiny studies of flowers, fruits and insects presented on light gray monochrome backgrounds, a new genre, which developed from the beginning of the 16th century along with the publication of scientific books on botany.
This kind of miniaturized still life, in which a few flowers, fruits and vegetables and small domestic animals mingle is quite characteristic of his art. The guinea pig motif recurs in many of his still life paintings.
The disorder of the composition and some elements of this still life symbolically evoke the cycle of life and the fragility of existence: the white butterfly, the cut flowers, the white rose fallen from the basket and the faded tulips hanging down above ground.
Based on the texts of Sandrine Le Bideau in the catalog Flemish and Dutch paintings—Collection of the Châteauroux museums (Peintures Flamande et Hollandaise—Collection des Musées de Châteauroux) Somogy-Editions d’Art