Figures in a winter landscape with a castle beyond

This winter scene, with its fanciful castle and figures making their way across the ice, stands firmly in the tradition of Hendrick Avercamp. Details such as the men in the foreground holding kolf sticks and the child on a sled in the middleground were integral to the formula of the Dutch winter landscape and lend an air of festivity to the scene. The motif of a castle overlooking a frozen moat was popular in the winter landscapes of Flemish immigrants such as Hans Bol and David Vinckboons. Avercamp was the first Dutch painter to use the motif in works such as Winter Scene with Skaters near a Castle (National Gallery, London).

Figures in a winter landscape was most likely painted by someone in Avercamp's circle and shares some stylistic characteristics with works attributed to the Amsterdam artist Adam van Breen (active 1611-1629), among them robust tree trunks and branches and warm tonality.