Ludolf Bakhuizen (Emden 1630-1708 Amsterdam)
Ludolf Bakhuizen (Emden 1630-1708 Amsterdam)

A winter landscape with skaters on a frozen river

Details
Ludolf Bakhuizen (Emden 1630-1708 Amsterdam)
A winter landscape with skaters on a frozen river
signed 'LB'
traces of black chalk, pen and brown ink, brown wash, brown ink framing lines, watermark Arms of Amsterdam
18.1 x 30.8 cm.
Provenance
with van Hoorn, Amsterdam; from whom purchased by I.Q. van Regteren Altena on 24 December 1928 for 20 guilders (Inventory book: '606. t. L. Backhuyzen schaatsrijders').
Exhibited
Rotterdam, Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Paris, Fondation Custodia, and Brussels, Bibliothèque Albert 1er, Le Cabinet d'un Amateur: Dessins flamands et hollandais des XVIe et XVIIe siècles d'une collection privée d'Amsterdam, 1976-77, no. 10, pl. 120 (catalogue by J. Giltaij).

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Harriet West
Harriet West

Lot Essay

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.

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