Ferdinand van Kessel, was a Flemish Baroque painter known for his landscapes, still lifes and genre pieces with monkeys.
Background
He was born in Antwerp as the son of January van Kessel the Elder, who was the grand-son of January Brueghel the Elder. He trained with his father from 1663. Though Ferdinand never achieved the level of his father, he was true to the van Kessel-Brueghel family name, and after January Brueghel the Younger died he was the only painter in Antwerp who carried on the family tradition.
Career
He died in Breda. This work was so well received, that van Kessel made another series of the four continents for the King of Poland, and continued to make paintings for him from his home in Breda, refusing an invitation to the Polish court. When a fire damaged his paintings in Poland, he quickly offered to repaint the lost pieces from sketches he had made. He continued to fulfill commissions from Poland himself and subcontracted some of the work to other Antwerp painters (Historical allegories: Frans Ykens, Maas, Caspar Jacob van Opstal, Charles Emmanuel Biset.
Landscapes: Pieter Spierinckx, Rysbregts, Peter van de Velde, Abraham Genoels.
Flowers: Gaspar Peeter Verbruggen, January Baptist Bosschaert, Simon Hardimé, and January Pauwel Gillemans the Younger). This lasted until the death of the King in 1696, when his patron Mr.
Molo refused to pay for a commission. He also made a ceiling painting for the palace of William III of Orange in Breda.