Roses, a tulip, a poppy, cornflowers and orange blossom and other flowers in a glass vase on a ledge, with butterflies, a caterpillar, beetles and other insects; and Roses, tulips, morning glory and other flowers in a glass vase on a ledge, with butterflies, dragonflies, a caterpillar, a bee and other insects

Jan van Kessel was born into the Brueghel dynasty of painters, being the grandson of Jan Brueghel the Elder and a nephew of Jan Breughel the Younger, who would later become his teacher. He initially trained in the workshop of the Antwerp history painter Simon de Vos, and in 1645, joined the Antwerp Guild of St. Luke as blomschilder (flower painter). Indeed, van Kessel’s specialisation as a painter of still lifes, especially flowers, is reiterated by the inscription proclaiming him as a ‘painter very renowned in flowers’ appended to the engraved portrait of the artist in Cornelis de Bie’s Het Gulden Cabinet vande Edel Vry Schilder-Const (The Golden Cabinet of the Noble Liberal Art of Painting), from 1662. Van Kessel, however, did not limit himself to this type of painting, and his oeuvre is remarkable for the sheer variety of genres in which he excelled. Despite the popularity of his work during his lifetime, he died in severe debt, leaving behind thirteen children.

From photographs, Dr. Fred G. Meijer has proposed a dating of circa 1670 for the present pair.