Hendrick AVERCAMP - Ice scene at a city (about 1615)

 

Ice scene at a city

about 1615
Oil painting on canvas (58x90 cm)
National Gallery, London

*******

We are in a city full of people enjoying themselves on a frozen lake. The painting has a strong evocative power, managing to recreate the feeling of the icy skies typical of northern winters.

The attention to detail is incredible; so much so that a simple figure on the left with the red band manages to communicate his cheerfulness.

Scholars are certain that Avercamp was mute and that this problem allowed him to develop more vision.

The sixteenth century represented a turning point for Holland: the middle class rises to power. This resulted in a decline in the patronage of the Church following the Protestant reform.

This social change has also brought about an upheaval in art, the painters specialize in smaller sized paintings, to satisfy the demands of the new collecting.

We are facing one of the first landscape painters of the seventeenth century; he specializes in winter scenes and in the study of the effects of light. His skill in detail and in the construction of the scenes is very reminiscent of Brügel's painting.

Comparing artists: Brügel, Cuyp, Van Goyen, Lowry, Raeburn, Ruisdael