KES'SEL, VAN. A Flemish fatuity of paint ers, all born in Antwerp, the earliest of whom was JEnoom (157S-e.1(136), portrait, animal, and still-life painter, pujiil of Cornelis Nods. He worked from about 1606 in various cities of Ger many (Frankfort. Augsburg, Strassburg. and Co logne), chiefly painting portraits, and before 1622 appears settled again at Antwerp as the son•in law of .tan Breughel (Velvet Breughel), in whose landscapes he supplied the animals.-11is son JAN, the elder (1626-79), painted landscapes, flowers, fruit, and animals. was a pupil of Simon de \'os and of Jan B•engliel. and aeeompanied his son JAN, the younger, to Madrid. The Museum there has a "Garland Around Infant Jesus and Saint John" ( figures by Van Thulden), and forty small pictures with animals by him. A "Concert of Birds" is in the Antwerp Mist-mil; "Boar-Hunt," "Cmnbat Between Bear and Snake," "Landscape with Birds," and "Landscape with Fable of Stork and Fox." are in the Vienna Al:1st-inn; others in the Louvre, Paris: the Uffizi Gallery. Florence, and in the museums at The Hague, Brunswick, Stuttgart, Nuremberg, Stockholm, and elsewhere. —1lis son and pupil FERDINAND ( 1648-96) paint ed similar subjects in a kindred manner, but also attempted large historical subjects by order of King John Sobieski of Poland, for whom lie ex ecuted. moreover, "The Four Elements" and "The Four Continents." and after both perished in the Mantes, repeated them on a larger scale. About 1688 he settled at Breda. when he did some decorative work in the palace of King William In.—JAN. the younger (1654-1708), also son and
pupil of Jan. the elder, went to Madrid in 1680 and acquired reputation as a portrait painter, but also treated historical and all those subjects which his father cultivated, and was made Court painter by Charles II. in 1686. His portrait of Philip IV. is in the Museum, and two mytholog ical scenes, "Psyche Found by Cupid" and "Psyche Surrounded by Wild Animals," are in the Alcazar at Madrid.—JAN THOMAS ( Nicolnes) (1677-1741), nephew and pupil of Ferdinand, was a uenre painter in the manner of David Toilers, and, through his village festivals, became well known in Paris, whither lie had gone early in life. In 1704 he returned to Antwerp to buy his mastership. Subsequently inheriting his uncle's property, he fell into dissipation and died in want.—Another JAN VAN KESSEL , who was born and died at Amsterdam, painted landscapes in the manner of Jacob Ruisdael and Hobbema. Ilis winter landscapes and his views of Amsterdam are particularly valued, and may he seen in the museums at Amsterdam, Rotter dam, Antwerp. Darmstadt. and in the Old Pina kothek at VAN KEssEr. (c.1620-?). engraver and etcher, born in Hol land, settled at Antwerp in 1652 and is known by etchings after Rubens. Van Dyck, Titian, Guido Reni, and others. These last two van lies sels were probably not related to the Antwerp family.