Image via WikipediaBorn in Amsterdam, Avercamp lived in Kampen (The Netherlands) most of his life. He was the Dutch Golden Age master of the winter landscape and was also known as the mute of Kampen because he was deaf and dumb. His paintings with their cartoon quality of hundreds of little people doing different things in a village landscape are reminiscent of Peter Bruegal the Elder’s style.
Winter Landscape with Ice Skaters painted around 1608, is in the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam. It features crowds of figures either working or having fun on the ice. Each different card focuses on a different detail in the painting. Click here for a closer view.
There are fine dressed people and beggars and people being pulled in a sleigh. There is a reed cutter hauling a bunch of reeds. The brewery has a pulley with a bucket over a hole in the ice to draw water for the brewing process. Look hard and there is a man relieving himself against a tree. There is also an upturned boat, being used as an outhouse with a pair of pink buttock cheeks protruding. There is also supposed to be a couple making love in a haystack but I can’t find it (perhaps it’s been painted out!)
There are also people playing kolf, the predecessor of golf, with the objective to hit the poles on the kolf pitch. Since the Middle Ages, kolf played on both ice and dry land was the most popular sport in the Netherlands.
Surprisingly I can only see one figure who has taken a fall on the ice. Maybe ice-skating is easier than I thought. We shall see.
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