A winter landscape with skaters on a frozen river

Winter landscapes are rare in the oeuvre of Bakhuizen who is mainly known for his maritime pictures and drawings. In later years, however, he expressed increasing interest in a broader range of subjects including genre scenes, portraits and Italianate landscapes. The style of the present drawing, with its free and almost sketchy lines, suggests that the drawing was indeed made in this late period, probably circa 1700. Another winter landscape, Skaters on the Amstel near the Singelgracht, is in the Gemeentearchief, Amsterdam (B. Bakker et al., De verzameling Van Eeghen: Amsterdamse tekeningen 1600-1950, Zwolle, 1988, no. 35) and a study of a man skating, which is part of a larger sheet with figure studies, is in the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam (inv. RP-T-1905-210; Broos et al., Ludolf Bakhuizen, schryfmeester, teyckenaer, schilder, Emden, 1985, no. 25). Skating figures drawn by Backhuyzen can also be found in a drawing by Abraham Rutgers (1632-1699); according to an old inscription, the artist added the two men skating in the foreground to Rutgers' winter landscape (M. Bisanz-Prakken, in Das Zeitalter Rembrandts, exhib. cat., Vienna, Albertina, 2009, no. 143). These two figures also appear in a sheet of figure studies in the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam (inv. RP-T-1905-209).

We are grateful to Gerlinde de Beer for her assistance in preparing this catalogue entry and for confirming the attribution to Ludolf Bakhuizen on the basis of a digital photograph.