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Jan van Kessel
Flemish, 1626-1679

Butterflies, Other Insects and Flowers
Oil on copper

Purchase in memory of Dr. and Mrs. De Los Lemuel Hill, 1958.19-.20

The aim of much seventeenth-century Dutch
art was to depict phenomena with as much
detail and objectivity as possible, an approach
to picturemaking that went hand-in-hand with
a contemporary interest in lenses and optics.
In these two small works, painted on copper,
the artist seems to have gathered a variety
of small flora and fauna simply to give an
accurate record of their appearance.