Ice Scene

We hope you had a calm and happy holiday.  :)  Time for some ice skating!

This painting shows a typically Dutch phenomenon: having fun on the ice. A frozen canal in a peasant village beneath grey skies is the setting for this wintry scene by Hendrick Avercamp, the first artist to specialize in drawing and painting the typically Dutch genre of people enjoying themselves on the ice. With great feeling for anecdotal detail he has painted numerous little figures, whose meticulously rendered clothing shows them to be from all sections of society. In the foreground our attention is drawn to a smartly dressed skater with a plumed top hat. Couples glide over the ice hand in hand, a game of kolf (a precursor of ice hockey) is in progress, a woman is doing her washing in a hole in the ice near a half-submerged rowing boat, and a man is chopping wood on the bank to the right. The bare buttocks exposed under the skirts of the woman who has slipped on the ice provide an amusing detail. But Avercamp also has an eye to the dangers of this winter recreation: four people have fallen through the ice near the left bank. Others are coming to their aid with a ladder. The lift bridge marks the transition to the expansive ice scene stretching into the distance, where the silhouette of a city stands out against the horizon.

Avercamp was the first painter in the Northern Netherlands to specialize in winter landscapes. He lived most of his life in Kampen and was deaf, which is why he was nicknamed The Mute of Kampen.

We present today's work thanks to the Mauritshuis in The Hague. 

P.S. Curious how people enjoyed snow throughout the centuries? Here you can see best snowy landscapes in European art.  :) 

Also, if you love such scenes, check out our paper DailyArt Desk Calendar 2022 - you'll find similar paintings there cheering the upcoming year!