Schaatsenrijden in Een Dorp

Hendrick Avercamp painted the lively winter scene showing villagers ice skating on a frozen canal, a subject he pioneered as an independent genre. Dozens of figures populate the ice: children playing, couples skating arm in arm, vendors, and townsfolk enjoying the rare frozen weather. A bare tree frames the composition against a pale winter sky.

Avercamp, known as "de Stomme van Kampen" (the Mute of Kampen) because he was deaf, specialized entirely in winter landscapes during the Little Ice Age. His detailed scenes document Dutch Golden Age winter life. The painting hangs at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam.