JAN VAN KESSEL I (Flanders, 1626-1679) and LUIGI PRIMO IL GENTIL (Belgium, 1605-1667)."William

JAN VAN KESSEL I (Flanders, 1626-1679) and LUIGI PRIMO IL GENTIL (Belgium, 1605-1667).
"William Raymond Moncada visiting the Queen of Aragon", ca.1663.
Oil on copper.
Signed by Van Kessel in the border (left side margin).
Scene signed by Primo Il Gentil in the lower right corner.
Regency frame, 19th century.
Size: 54 x 68 cm; 76 x 90 (frame).
This work belongs to a select cycle of twenty coppers that narrate the exploits of two Sicilian noblemen of Spanish origin: the brothers Guillermo Ramón Moncada and Antonio Moncada. The historical scene in the present copper was painted by Luigi Primo il Gentile (five were commissioned), and Jan van Kessel was the author of the decorative border framing the scene of the twenty episodes. Collaboration between painters was common in the Low Countries given their specialisation in different genres in which they were masters: Kessel was a master of virtuoso rendering of flowery garlands, birds and other elements from the animal and plant kingdoms, while P. il Gentile was an outstanding exponent of the historical genre and portraiture. In the Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza in Madrid there are two coppers from the same cycle, in this case painted by Kessel (the garland) and David Teniers II (the scene). The present scene is dedicated to Guillermo Ramón Moncada, as the cartouche at the top, painted by Kessel, states, accompanied by the heraldic coats of arms of the family. Kessel endows the birds with volume and agility (there are a wide variety of exotic species), so that in a trompe l'oeil effect they seem to escape from the two-dimensionality of the painting, as if fluttering among the tangled foliage. Flowers with fleshy petals, chests with gold fittings and pieces of porcelain resting on venereal-shaped corbels share this same struggle to transgress the limits of painting. The courtly costumes, the fine embroidery and the many gauzes that envelop the bodies of the maidens in the scene painted by Gentile also display a supreme delicacy. Like other episodes in the series painted by Gentile ("Guillaume-Raymond Moncada visiting the King of Aragon", ca.1660, private collection), the composition is governed by the arrangement of the groups (with Guillaume occupying the pre-eminent place) around kings and princesses who receive them in their chambers. It is also very similar to the composition Teniers chose in his representation of a solemn reception before the queen's throne. The episodes depicting these two members of the Moncada family took place in Sicily between the end of the 14th and the beginning of the 15th century. The paintings are executed with a structure similar to that of tapestry cartoons. In fact, those dedicated to William R. Moncada were used for this purpose. They were probably woven in Flanders. The remaining coppers dedicated to the Moncada brothers, apart from those in the Thyssen Museum, are to be found in private collections and among the descendants of the Marquis of Villafranca.
Luigi Primo Gentile (c.1605-1667), a Flemish painter, worked in a style that combined his Flemish roots with the profound influence of Italian art. Some of the altarpieces he painted between 1633 and 1657 for churches in Rome (Madonna presenting the Child to Saint Anthony of Padua, 1655, Saint Mark's, Rome). According to some sources, Gentile painted small devotional paintings on copper for Pope Innocent X between 1646 and 1652. In 1635 he joined the confraternity of the Church of St. Julian of the Flemish. In 1650 he entered the Accademia di San Luca.
Jan van Kessel I was a Flemish painter, grandson on his mother's side of Jan Brueghel the Elder and nephew of Jan Brueghel the Younger and David Teniers II, whose pupils he was. Like his grandfather, he painted in a wide variety of genres, including still lifes and flowers, animals, landscapes, allegories and religious works.