A Scene on the Ice

c. 1625

Hendrick Avercamp

Artist, Dutch, 1585 - 1634

We look slightly down onto a panorama with dozens of pale-skinned men, women, and children skating and standing on a frozen river in this horizontal landscape painting. Most of the men wear black hats and suits, some with white collars and hip-length capes. The women all wear ankle- or floor-length skirts, and some are covered with black cloaks that drape over their heads to their feet. Many people wear black but some of the clothing is scarlet red, sage green, celestial blue, beige, or slate gray. A few people draw the eye, like the man standing with his back to us, wearing dark gray and holding a tall pole in the lower left corner. To the right, a man kneels to tie a skate with a brown and black dog nearby. A woman wearing a crimson-red skirt and a couple clad entirely in fur-lined black clothing look toward a man and woman riding a horse-drawn sled on the ice, at the lower center of the painting. Another black-draped form in the sleigh could be a second woman wearing a cloak. A pair of boys play a game like hockey in the lower right corner. People gather and skate in pairs and small groups, or ride in sledges into the deep distance. The buildings and boats lining the horizon, which comes about halfway up the composition, are painted in shimmering grays. The sky above is the same cool white as the ice below. A few birds fly across the scene.

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Rich and poor mingle on the frozen waters of a river. From the lower left corner, a man quietly observes the many skaters. At the center, well-dressed ladies ride in an elegant sleigh driven by a groom; the horse’s shoes are spiked for traction on the slippery surface. Two little boys in the right corner play a game of colf (or kolf), a cross between modern-day hockey and golf. And in the background, sledges transport people and commercial goods on the frozen waterway.

Avercamp, who combined the Dutch love of landscape with scenes of daily life, was among the first European artists to specialize in depictions of winter. The pearly gray tonality here becomes ever paler and the forms less distinct as they move into the distance, subtly conveying a sense of deep space on a frosty day. The setting may be the IJssel River at Kampen, the Hanseatic town northeast of Amsterdam where Avercamp resided most of his life. Mute since birth and likely deaf as well, Avercamp was called "de Stomme van Kampen," meaning "the Mute of Kampen." Despite this disability, Avercamp had a successful and independent career as a painter of popular winter scenes.

On View

West Building Main Floor, Gallery 44

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Artwork overview

  • Medium

    oil on panel

  • Credit Line

    Ailsa Mellon Bruce Fund

  • Dimensions

    overall: 39.2 x 77 cm (15 7/16 x 30 5/16 in.)
    framed: 64.8 x 102.2 x 5.7 cm (25 1/2 x 40 1/4 x 2 1/4 in.)

  • Accession

    1967.3.1

More About this Artwork

Video:  Wintertime Art Screensaver

Enjoy relaxing music and a series of wintertime landscapes from the National Gallery of Art's collection.  

Scholarly Article:  Dutch Paintings of the Seventeenth Century: A Scene on the Ice, c. 1625

This horizontal painting shows a group of eight light-skinned musicians and onlookers gathered closely around a rectangular, carpet-covered table. The front edge of the table runs parallel to the bottom edge of the painting, and seems close to us. Shown from about the waist up, the men and women’s vivid lapis-blue, coral-red, buttercup-yellow, lilac-purple, and moss-green garments fall in crisp folds. Bright reflections on the fabric suggest a satin-like material. Two women wear feathers in their hair and one man’s hat is plumed. One man, wearing crimson red and black, sits with his back to us to our left on the near side of the table. He holds the neck of a bass viol, about the size of a cello, with his left hand, and points to pages of an open music book with the bow in his right hand. The other people cluster on the far side of the table. A man to the left plays a violin; a woman at the center plays a guitar-sized bandora, and a woman to our right plays a lute. The musicians, along with a man who leans over the table from between the two women, look down at the music books. A young man behind the woman at the center holds up a glass of pale liquid with his right hand as he touches his left forefinger to his smiling lips. A man and woman stand close together in the background to our right, in the top right corner of the canvas.

Scholarly Series:  Dutch Paintings of the Seventeenth Century

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

Said to have been at the Imperial Hermitage Gallery, Saint Petersburg.[1] (Firma D. Katz, Dieren), by 1933; J.M.B. Beuker, Heelsum, by 1934;[2] by inheritance to his widow, Mrs. J.C. Beuker [née De Kruyff van Dorssen]; sold 5 April 1967 through (A. Martin de Wild, The Hague) to NGA.
[1] In the catalogues for the 1934 and 1938 exhibitions in which it was included, the painting was described as having been previously in the collection of the Hermitage. However, the picture is not listed in any of that museum's collection catalogues.
[2] Labels from the 1933 and 1934 exhibitions both say that Katz was the “exhibitor,” but they give two different names as the “owner” (removed from the back of the painting, now in NGA curatorial files). The owner’s name on the 1933 label is difficult to decipher, but appears to be two initials followed by “te H.” The owner’s name on the 1934 label clearly reads “J.M.B. Beuker Heelsum.”

Associated Names

Exhibition History

1933

  • Kunsttentoonstelling van 17e Eeuwsche Schilderijen, Gemeentelijk Museum, Zutphen, The Netherlands, 1933, no. 45.

1934

  • Tentoonstelling van Schilderijen van Oud-hollandsche Meesters uit de Collectie Katz te Dieren, Frans Halsmuseum, Haarlem, 1934, no. 45.

1938

  • Meesterwerken uit Vier Eeuwen 1400-1800, Museum Boymans-van Beuningen, Rotterdam, 1938, no. 52.

1969

  • In Memoriam, Ailsa Mellon Bruce, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1969, unnumbered checklist.

1997

  • Rembrandt and the Golden Age: Dutch Paintings from the National Gallery of Art, The Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, Virginia, 1997, unnumbered brochure.

2018

  • Water, Wind, and Waves: Marine Paintings from the Dutch Golden Age, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 2018, unnumbered brochure.

Bibliography

1934

  • Niehaus, Kasper. "Oudhollandsche meesters in het Frans Halsmuseum." De Telegraaf, 29 (November 1934): 7.

  • W., J. "Een Collectie der Firma D. Katz te Haarlem." Nieuwe Arnhemsche Courant (22 November 1934).

1938

  • Hannema, Dirk. Meesterwerken uit vier eeuwen, 1400-1800. Exh. cat. Museum Boymans, Rotterdam, 1938: no. 52.

1968

  • European Paintings and Sculpture, Illustrations. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1968: 2, repro.

1975

  • European Paintings: An Illustrated Summary Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1975: 14, repro.

1978

  • King, Marian. Adventures in Art: National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. New York, 1978: 54, 56-57, pl. 32.

1979

  • Welcker, Clara J. Hendrick Avercamp (1585-1634), bijgenaamd "De Stomme van Campen" en Barent Avercamp (1612-1679), "Schilders tot Campen". Edited by D.J. Hensbroek-van der Poel. Rev. ed. Doornspijk, 1979: 216, no. S73.3.

1982

  • Blankert, Albert. Hendrick Avercamp, 1584-1634; Barent Avercamp, 1612-1679; Frozen Silence: Paintings from Museums and Private Collections. Exh. cat. Waterman Gallery, Amstersdam; Provenciaal Overijssels Museum, Zwolle. Amsterdam, 1982: 55 n. 25.

1984

  • Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington. Rev. ed. New York, 1984: 287, no. 372, color repro.

1985

  • National Gallery of Art. European Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. Washington, 1985: 33, repro.

1986

  • Sutton, Peter C. A Guide to Dutch Art in America. Washington and Grand Rapids, 1986: 305, repro.

1995

  • Wheelock, Arthur K., Jr. Dutch Paintings of the Seventeenth Century. The Collections of the National Gallery of Art Systematic Catalogue. Washington, 1995: 9-14, color repro. 11.

2001

  • Spolsky, Ellen. Satisfying Skepticism: Embodied Knowledge in the Early Modern World. Burlington, 2001: 146-147, fig. 7.3.

2009

  • Roelofs, Pieter, ed. Hendrick Avercamp: Master of the Ice Scene. Exh. cat. Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam; National Gallery of Art, Washington. Amsterdam, 2009: 107, 169 n. 39.

2021

  • Kennicott, Philip and Matthew Cappucci. "Examining the Elements of Breathtaking Art." Washington Post 144, no. 225 (July 18, 2021): E10, color repro.

Inscriptions

lower left, in ligature: HA

Wikidata ID

Q20177057

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