Image: public domain, courtesy of Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam

Winter Landscape with Ice Skaters

Hendrick Avercamp, c. 1608

Hundreds of people enjoy a frozen river: they skate, ride sleighs and play kolf, an early cousin of golf. Avercamp could neither hear nor speak and was nicknamed “the Mute”, yet his winter scenes are full of life.

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Did you know?

Look for his signature on the right, painted on the wall of a wooden shed covered in graffiti.
Look for a bird trap in the snow, an idea Avercamp borrowed from a painting by Bruegel.
On the left, a fisherman holds an eel spear: not everyone on the ice was there for fun.
The building on the left, with two lions, may be a brewery called The Half Moon.
Look far away for ice-boats with sails, and nearer, for a courting couple sitting on a haystack.
The Rijksmuseum bought it in 1898 for just 550 guilders.

About the artist

Hendrick Avercamp (1585–1634) was born in Amsterdam and spent most of his life in the small town of Kampen in the Dutch Republic.

He is famous for winter landscapes of frozen rivers and canals, painted in an age of especially cold winters.

His ice scenes are full of tiny people — skaters, children at play, couples chatting, someone taking a tumble — so every picture is a little world of stories to discover.

Hendrick Avercamp ›

Where it is today: Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam · Museum page