See caption
A Winter Scene with Skaters near a Castle, 1608–1609
oil on oak
40.7 cm × 40.7 cm (16.0 in × 16.0 in)
Source: Wikimedia Commons

A Winter Scene with Skaters near a Castle is an oil on oak painting undertaken between 1608 and 1609 by the Dutch artist Hendrick Avercamp (1585–1634).[1]

As with a number of Avercamp’s works, the picture is part of the Flemish tradition of painting “the harmony of human activity and the cycle of nature”.[2] He was influenced in his subject by the Little Ice Age, particularly the cold winter of 1607–1608,[3] and was the first of the Dutch painters to specialise in snow scenes.[4]

The painting was acquired by the National Gallery in London in 1891 and remains in its collection, as at 2020.[1]

References

  1.  
  2. p. 173
  3.  
  4. p. 182

Bibliography

Burroughs, Eilliam. “The Art of Weather.” New Scientist, vol. 88, no. 1232, Dec. 1980, pp. 768–69.
DK. The Illustrated Story of Art: The Great Art Movements and the Paintings That Inspired Them. Dorling Kindersley, 2013.
Langmuir, Erica. The National Gallery Companion Guide. Yale University Press, 1999.
National Gallery. A Winter Scene with Skaters near a Castle. https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/hendrick-avercamp-a-winter-scene-with-skaters-near-a-castle.