Stylistically, van Kessel's views imitate the miniaturist manner of his grandfather Jan Brueghel the Elder. All of the pictures follow a similar same compositional scheme: a view of a city is seen in the background while a close-up of large animals of various species makes up the foreground. This scheme was characteristic for 16th-century graphic artists such as Joris Hoefnagel and Adriaen Collaert, who are known to have been a source of inspiration for Van Kessel's work more generally. This arrangement seems inspired by the cartography of the time, where the maps of the continents are illustrated with a multitude of animals, real and fantastic, and surrounded by borders divided into small scenes with the representation of the planets, the seasons of the year and the four elements, or maps of countries bordered by small vignettes with views of the most important cities. Joris Hoefnagel and Adriaen Collaert were also the direct source for some of the animals painted by van Kessel. Others are copied from paintings by Jan Brueghel the Elder, Jan Fyt, Frans Snyders, Paul de Vos and Rubens.