Jan Thomas van Kessel

He was principally a genre painter who created scenes of peasants, wedding festivals and interiors of inns.

[4] It is believed that after the death of his master Peter Ykens in 1695 he continued his studies in Breda with his uncle Ferdinand van Kessel who was working there on a commission for the palace of William III of Orange.

[3] Van Kessel was principally a genre painter who created scenes of peasants, wedding festivals and interiors of inns.

[2] His work shows the strong influence of David Teniers the Younger, the leading Flemish genre painter in the second half of the 17th century.

[5] Teniers had been an important innovator of genre painting through his vivid depictions of peasants, soldiers and other 'lower class' individuals, whom he showed engaged in drinking, smoking, card or dice playing, fighting, music making etc.