Winter Scene

Jan van de Cappelle

c. 1652 - c. 1653

oil on canvas

Rijksmuseum

A winter scene depicts people ice skating and walking on a frozen canal lined with thatched-roof buildings and bare trees. A boat is moored on the left bank. Jan van de Cappelle (1626 - 1679). Winter scene, c. 1653. Jan van de Cappelle is admired primarily for his atmospheric seascapes, but this winter landscape is also impressively rendered. Tones of whitish grey and grey evoke the bleakness of winter. It is cold, the canal is frozen, and dark clouds indicate that there is more snow on the way. Van de Cappelle devoted careful attention to the details: the white frost on the trees, the holes cut in the ice, and the axe left behind. Gift of Mr. and Mrs. I. de Bruijn-van der Leeuw (Muri near Bern), 1961.