Skating Scene

Avercamp's "Skating Scene" echoes Pieter Bruegel's "Winter Landscape" in many respects. Yet in his painting the didactic message is relegated to the background. The picture combines elements of the landscape and the genre scene. The frozen river by the walls of Kampen is alive with skaters, people fishing through holes in the ice and peasants with sledges. The figures are united by everyday interests: a cavalier is fixing his lady's skate, while a young boy looks on inquisitively, and further off we see figures playing ball, pulling an old man along in a sledge or taking a dog for a walk. There is even a custodian of the peace with a gun. The line of the horizon divides the picture in two: this is not a panorama, as in Bruegel's picture, but a painting of a small scene in a real place. The winter countryside is depicted as the natural surroundings of individual people.