Winter landscape with a frozen lake and skaters

Oil on canvas

98 x 98 cm.

Framed: 112 x 112 cm.

The setting for this splendid winter landscape is a completely frozen stretch of water, a veritable town square, populated by numerous figures going about their daily lives, oblivious to the cold around them.

The painting thus offers a valuable snapshot of the colder seasons in Northern Europe between the 17th and 18th centuries, a period often marked by extremely harsh winters.

Winter scenes such as this one became a distinct genre of painting, reaching their zenith during the Dutch Golden Age, following in the footsteps of Pieter Brueghel the Elder, one of the pioneers of these snow-covered landscapes as early as the first half of the 16th century.

What united these compositions and made them so fascinating was the coexistence of opposing social classes within the same space: the nobles and wealthy bourgeois stand out in their refined attire, with wide cloaks and feathered hats, displaying their status even on the ice, whilst not far from them many commoners watch the scene from the sidelines, and children all around enjoy themselves in a more boisterous manner.

Even the ways of moving about on the ice varied according to social class: from the sumptuous carved wooden sledge in the shape of a swan for the wealthy couple in love, to the more rudimentary one pushed by a man to entertain a lady seated inside.

The masters of this period were also skilled at capturing the atmosphere of landscapes; in our painting, for example, although based on a real-life scene, the view takes on an almost dreamlike quality: the sky, imposing and dramatic, is filled with pinkish clouds reflecting the low light of the winter sunset, enveloping the entire scene in a suspended and evocative atmosphere.

On closer inspection, it is interesting to spot some light-hearted details, intended to add realism and humour to the scene; for instance, the woman who has clumsily slipped on the ice and is left bare from the waist down, provoking the laughter of those present.

In Flemish genre painting, artists typically depicted the lives of the common people without idealising filters, often showing the mundane behaviour of the peasant class: the presence of the so-called ‘kakker’ (the defecator; in our painting, the figure of a man bent over appears off to the left) is a grotesque element but, at the same time, an extremely common satirical device much appreciated by collectors of the time.

From an attributional point of view, our painting can be placed in the catalogue of Joseph van Bredael (Antwerp 1688 – Paris 1739), a celebrated Flemish painter belonging to a renowned dynasty of Antwerp artists, internationally renowned above all for his Italianate landscapes and genre scenes; his winter landscapes, in particular, represent one of the finest expressions of his artistic output

His work is distinguished by the extreme meticulousness of its details, typical of the miniaturist style.

 This is, in fact, a typical composition by the painter, executed with great quality and attention to detail, and characterised by a pleasing, soft and delicate colour scheme. His compositions never fail to include elements typical of the Flemish rural landscape, such as windmills and hunters with dogs; indeed, the presence of a woman slipping on the ice is a typical anecdotal detail found in his works.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

The painting is set in an attractive gilded frame and comes with a certificate of authenticity and a descriptive iconographic sheet.

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Should you wish to view this or other works in person, we would be delighted to welcome you to our new gallery in Riva del Garda, at Viale Giuseppe Canella 18. We look forward to seeing you!

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