Jan Griffier, Ice-skating near a town, 1718

by Atelier Liesjes

"Een bevroren rivier vult bijna het hele beeld, bezaaid met schaatsers, sleden en groepjes mensen die zich bij kraampjes en een vastgevroren boot hebben verzameld. Links rijst in de verte een stad op met een hoge kerktoren, molens en een lange stadsmuur; On the right is a large house with snow on the roof and a wooden balustrade, surrounded by bare trees. In the foreground, a sledge with a sail glides across the ice, and near the bank, a few pigs are rooting in the snow. On the left bank, there are tents and small groups of figures gathered around a sledge. Two tall, bare trees on either side stretch their delicate, brown crowns of branches towards the sky. The sky is the most striking part of the painting: a canopy of clouds in soft pink, pearl grey and pale blue, in which the sun hides behind the clouds, lending the ice a chilly, white sheen. Griffier paints the figures small and fleeting, like colourful dots, so that the landscape and the sky take centre stage. The scene depicts winter fun on the ice in the Dutch tradition: not a moralising tale, but a celebration of movement, cold and winter light. The sky occupies more than half the canvas and thus sets the mood. The atmosphere is exuberant yet tranquil, like a winter afternoon slowly growing dark. Jan Griffier (Amsterdam 1645 – London 1718) worked in Amsterdam, Rotterdam and, from the 1670s onwards, in England, where he painted at court and for London collectors. He was a pupil of Roelant Roghman and Jan Looten and specialised in mountainous river landscapes and winter scenes, in which Italian and Dutch influences blend. This work is dated 1718 and is therefore one of his final works. His winter scenes are reminiscent of those by Aert van der Neer. A lively, atmospheric winter scene for a classical interior."