Jan van Kessel (attributed to)

View of the Haarlemmerhout, Haarlem

Haarlem, c. 1650 - c. 1659

Inscriptions

  • inscribed on verso, in pencil: lower centre, groote hout; below that, in a modern hand, J. v. Kessel; lower left, D; next to that, in pencil, A. 230; below that, n.-; below that, Kessel […] Haarlemmerhout

  • stamped on verso: lower centre, with the mark of the museum (L. 2228)

Technical notes

watermark: Strasbourg lily

Condition

paper discolored; a few abrasions around the edges

Provenance

…; from the dealer J.H. Balfoort, Utrecht, fl. 12.50, to the museum (L.2228), 1883

ObjectNumber: RP-T-1883-A-230

The artist

Biography

Jan van Kessel (Amsterdam, 1641 - Amsterdam, 1680)

He was born to the framemaker Thomas Jacobsz. van Kessel (?-?) and Neeltje Henrix (?-?) and baptized in the Nieuwe Kerk in Amsterdam on 22 September 1641.1Amsterdam, Stadsarchief, DTB Dopen, archiefnummer 5001, inventarisnummer 42, blad p. 273, aktenummer DTB 42. In 1668, he married Clara Swichters (?-?).2Amsterdam, Stadsarchief, Ondertrouwregister, archiefnummer 5001, inventarisnummer 491, blad p. 342, aktenummer DTB 491. The couple had several children, but only one son, Isaac (1670-?), made it to adulthood.3A.I. Davies, Jan van Kessel (1641-1680), Doornspijk 1992, pp. 14-17.

Based on stylistic evidence, Van Kessel probably trained with Jacob van Ruisdael (1628-1682). He was friends with fellow artist Meindert Hobbema (1638-1709), the only documented student of Ruisdael.4Hobbema acted as the godfather to Van Kessel’s son Thomas (1675-? 1676), and in 1690, ten years after Van Kessel’s death, he became the legal guardian of Isaac van Kessel; cf. Ibid, pp. 15, 29. Van Kessel painted mainly townscapes and panoramic views. He occasionally copied whole compositions by Ruisdael, but more often he imitated the styles of contemporaries such as Hobbema, Allart van Everdingen (1621-1675), Jan Wijnants (1632-1684) and Jan van de Capelle (1626-1679).5Ibid., p. 2. As a result, his work is often catalogued under the wrong name. He is also confused with other minor artists in Ruisdael’s circle, such as Jan van de Meer II (1656-1705), Isaac Koene (1637/40-1713), Jacob Salomonsz van Ruysdael (1629/30-1681) and Anthonie van Borssom (1630-1677).6A. Davies, ‘Kessel, Jan (Johan) van’, Grove Art Online, https://www.oxfordartonline.com/groveart/view/10.1093/gao/9781884446054.001.0001/oao-9781884446054-e-7000046340, accessed 15 June 2020. His earliest known dated works are from 1661, but the Fondation Custodia in Paris holds a sketchbook that probably dates from c. 1659-66 (inv. no. 2006-T.30).7J. Giltaij, ‘A Newly Discovered Seventeenth-century Sketchbook’, Simiolus, 33 (2007-08), no. 1/2, p. 88.

As a draughtsman, Van Kessel worked primarily in black chalk and grey wash and emulated Ruisdael’s mature drawing style. His drawn oeuvre consists of townscapes, tree studies and farmsteads. Some of these sheets are studies for his paintings.8A.I. Davies, Jan van Kessel (1641-1680), Doornspijk 1992, pp. 81-93. He went on several trips through the Netherlands to draw, occasionally accompanied by Hobbema, who recorded some of the same sites.9Ibid., p. 88.

Van Kessel is often confused with the Flemish painter Jan van Kessel (1626-1679) with whom he bears no familial relationship. The Dutch Van Kessel died at the age of thirty-nine and was buried at the Nieuwezijdskapel in Amsterdam on 24 December 1680.

Carolyn Mensing, 2020

References
U. Thieme and F. Becker, Allgemeines Lexikon der bildenden Künstler: Von der Antike bis zur Gegenwart, 37 vols., Leipzig 1907-50, XX (1927), p. 202; A.I. Davies, Jan van Kessel (1641-1680), Doornspijk 1992; J. Briels, Peintres flamands au berceau du Sie`cle d’Or hollandais, Antwerp 1997, p. 347; A.I. Davies, ‘Kessel, Jan [Johan] van’, in J. Turner (ed.), The Dictionary of Art, 34 vols., London/New York 1996, XVII, p. 920; J. Giltaij, ‘A Newly Discovered Seventeenth-century Sketchbook’, Simiolus, 33 (2007-08), no. 1/2, pp. 81-93

Entry

According to Peter Schatborn, the inscription on the verso ‘groote hout’ is a reference to the ‘Haarlemmerhout’ in Haarlem, the oldest public park in the Netherlands.10In a letter to A.I. Davies, dated 15 July 1985; cf. A.I. Davies, Jan van Kessel (1641-1680), Doornspijk 1992, p. 264. The numerals 165 on the lower right might be part of a date. If the sheet were indeed made in the 1650s, Van Kessel would have still been an apprentice, presumably under the guidance of Jacob van Ruisdael (1628-1682), and the drawing would be the earliest extant example of his work. This might explain the stylistic differences with other drawings in his oeuvre. That being said, the way the trees are drawn does compare to a drawing in Museum Boijmans van Beuningen, Rotterdam (inv. no. JvK 5),11Ibid, no. d38. which Van Kessel expert Davies considers to be the graphic equivalent of a painting in the Rijksmuseum (inv. no. SK-A-200).12Ibid., no. Pd2. However, the present author is not convinced of this direct relationship.

Carolyn Mensing, 2020

Literature

A.I. Davies, Jan van Kessel (1641-1680), Doornspijk 1992, p. 264, no. Pd2, pl. 254

Citation

C. Mensing, 2020, 'attributed to Jan van Kessel, View of the Haarlemmerhout, Haarlem, Haarlem, c. 1650 - c. 1659', in J. Turner (ed.), Dutch Drawings of the Seventeenth Century in the Rijksmuseum, online coll. cat. Amsterdam: hdl.handle.net/10934/RM0001.COLLECT.54003

(accessed 2 August 2025 12:11:02).

Footnotes

  • 1Amsterdam, Stadsarchief, DTB Dopen, archiefnummer 5001, inventarisnummer 42, blad p. 273, aktenummer DTB 42.
  • 2Amsterdam, Stadsarchief, Ondertrouwregister, archiefnummer 5001, inventarisnummer 491, blad p. 342, aktenummer DTB 491.
  • 3A.I. Davies, Jan van Kessel (1641-1680), Doornspijk 1992, pp. 14-17.
  • 4Hobbema acted as the godfather to Van Kessel’s son Thomas (1675-? 1676), and in 1690, ten years after Van Kessel’s death, he became the legal guardian of Isaac van Kessel; cf. Ibid, pp. 15, 29.
  • 5Ibid., p. 2.
  • 6A. Davies, ‘Kessel, Jan (Johan) van’, Grove Art Online, https://www.oxfordartonline.com/groveart/view/10.1093/gao/9781884446054.001.0001/oao-9781884446054-e-7000046340, accessed 15 June 2020.
  • 7J. Giltaij, ‘A Newly Discovered Seventeenth-century Sketchbook’, Simiolus, 33 (2007-08), no. 1/2, p. 88.
  • 8A.I. Davies, Jan van Kessel (1641-1680), Doornspijk 1992, pp. 81-93.
  • 9Ibid., p. 88.
  • 10In a letter to A.I. Davies, dated 15 July 1985; cf. A.I. Davies, Jan van Kessel (1641-1680), Doornspijk 1992, p. 264.
  • 11Ibid, no. d38.
  • 12Ibid., no. Pd2.