Jan van Kessel (Antwerp, 1626-idem, 1679) was a Flemish painter of still lifes, who was the father of another painter with the same name Jan van Kessel, and Jan Brueghel the Elder's grandson.
He became a member of the Antwerp painters' guild and was influenced by Daniel Seghers (1590–1661). According to Houbraken, he was famous in his lifetime for the neatness of his flower paintings and Cornelis de Bie wrote a poem about him.[1]
He joined the Antwerp painters' guild in 1645 and specialized in small-scale pictures of subjects gleaned from the natural world such as floral still lifes and allegorical series showing animal kingdoms, the four elements, the senses, or the parts of the world. Obsessed with picturesque detail, van Kessel worked from nature and used illustrated scientific texts as sources for filling his pictures with objects represented with almost scientific accuracy.
Jan van Kessel painted many animals (especially insects) and flowers, as well as some mythological and biblical scenes. his choice of subject leaned towards those which included animals and plants.