# The Soap Bubbles

[View the canonical artwork record](<https://beta.wga.hu/artists/kessel-jan-van-i-ra48c6ed51d2b75/the-soap-bubbles-r87464876950aed>)

## Artwork

- Artist: [KESSEL, Jan van, I](<https://beta.wga.hu/artists/kessel-jan-van-i-ra48c6ed51d2b75>)
- Date: 1651-1700
- Technique: Oil on canvas, 67 x 51 cm

## Commentary

The painting is the result of a collaboration with David Teniers the Younger. The decorative cartouche was painted by van Kessel, renowned for his compositions of shells and insects. The cartouche features four still-lifes on the elements: water is represented by fishes, air by birds, earth by fruit and flowers, and fire by the arms trophy at the top. Inside the stone cartouche Teniers revives a familiar theme, two boys blowing soap bubbles, an allegory of the vanity of worldly matters and the frailty of human life.

## Related artworks

- [A Garland of Flowers](<https://beta.wga.hu/artists/kessel-jan-van-i-ra48c6ed51d2b75/a-garland-of-flowers-r006b39845e9b27>)
- [Birds on a Riverbank](<https://beta.wga.hu/artists/kessel-jan-van-i-ra48c6ed51d2b75/birds-on-a-riverbank-rdd4f3363ce89c1>)
- [Birds](<https://beta.wga.hu/artists/kessel-jan-van-i-ra48c6ed51d2b75/birds-re4dc0a66fcddd0>)
- [Butterflies and Insects](<https://beta.wga.hu/artists/kessel-jan-van-i-ra48c6ed51d2b75/butterflies-and-insects-r1876c3b1b0d1c6>)
- [Flowers](<https://beta.wga.hu/artists/kessel-jan-van-i-ra48c6ed51d2b75/flowers-r8175498bf33b11>)
- [Harbour Scene with Fish](<https://beta.wga.hu/artists/kessel-jan-van-i-ra48c6ed51d2b75/harbour-scene-with-fish-rf98e5ff958392f>)
- [Holy Family](<https://beta.wga.hu/artists/kessel-jan-van-i-ra48c6ed51d2b75/holy-family-r7c3c13f033d996>)
- [Insects](<https://beta.wga.hu/artists/kessel-jan-van-i-ra48c6ed51d2b75/insects-r432021065950ef>)
- [Insects](<https://beta.wga.hu/artists/kessel-jan-van-i-ra48c6ed51d2b75/insects-r796144112cdd3a>)
- [Insects](<https://beta.wga.hu/artists/kessel-jan-van-i-ra48c6ed51d2b75/insects-re134419ba598ce>)
- [Interior of a Kitchen with a Dog](<https://beta.wga.hu/artists/kessel-jan-van-i-ra48c6ed51d2b75/interior-of-a-kitchen-with-a-dog-r29f13f67059938>)
- [Madonna with the Child and St Ildephonsus Framed with a Garland of Flowers](<https://beta.wga.hu/artists/kessel-jan-van-i-ra48c6ed51d2b75/madonna-with-the-child-and-st-ildephonsus-framed-with-a-garland-of-flowers-rf63d77688871c3>)

## Attribution

[Web Gallery of Art](<https://beta.wga.hu/pages/about>)