Artwork
Enjoying the ice
Enjoying the ice is an oil painting by the Dutch Golden Age artist Barent Avercamp. It dates from 1655 and is held in the collection of the Rijksmuseum.
About this work
Subject & Meaning
In the background at the left, the ramparts of a town rise up, accompanied by a windmill, situating the activity within a recognizable Dutch urban setting.
Enjoying the ice depicts a winter scene in which numerous figures amuse themselves on the ice of a frozen river or canal. In the foreground, several men stand with kolf sticks, the wooden clubs used in the early Dutch precursor to golf and hockey. At the center of the composition, a horse-drawn sleigh carries passengers across the ice, while elsewhere skaters glide, sledges are pulled, and goods are transported over the frozen surface.
In the background at the left, the ramparts of a town rise up, accompanied by a windmill, situating the activity within a recognizable Dutch urban setting.
The painting belongs to a long-established tradition of winter landscapes in Dutch art, in which the frozen waterway serves both as a setting for communal recreation and as a reminder of the harsh northern climate. Avercamp's composition emphasizes the social dimension of winter, presenting the ice as a shared space where sport, travel, and leisure converge.
Technique & Style
Executed in 1655, this landscape painting by Barent Avercamp utilizes oil paint applied to a wooden panel support. The work measures 38.5 cm in height and 51 cm in width. Stylistically, the composition depicts a bustling winter scene on a frozen river or canal, populated by numerous figures engaged in various activities such as skating, sledding, and transporting goods.
Prominent foreground elements include men holding kolf sticks, while a horse-drawn sleigh occupies the central area. The background features architectural details, including city ramparts and a windmill on the left, alongside buildings on the right that closely resemble those found in Avercamp's other winter landscapes.
History & Provenance
Enjoying the Ice, also known as Winter Landscape with Figures on a Frozen River, was created by Barent Avercamp in 1655. The work is an oil painting on panel depicting numerous figures engaging in winter activities such as skating and sledding on a frozen waterway. The piece entered the collection of the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam in March 1940.
It was donated to the museum by the Belgian couple Dominicus Antonius Josephus Kessler and Anna Christine Maria Helene Kessler-Hülsmann, who resided in Kapelle-op-den-Bos. The composition shares significant architectural similarities with another work by Avercamp, Winter Landscape with Kolf Players, which was last recorded at the TEFAF art fair in March 2014.
The painting Enjoying the ice by Barent Avercamp is held in the collection of the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam. The work entered the museum's holdings in March 1940 as a gift from the couple Dominicus Antonius Josephus Kessler and Anna Christine Maria Helene Kessler-Hülsmann, who resided in Kapelle-op-den-Bos, Belgium.
While the painting is part of the permanent collection, specific records regarding its public exhibition history are not detailed in the available sources. The work is sometimes referred to by the Dutch title Winterlandschap met figuren op een bevroren rivier or IJsvermaak.
Context
Barent Avercamp’s Enjoying the ice belongs to a Dutch winter-scene tradition centered on communal ice amusements, aligning with seventeenth-century genre practices that fused landscape with anecdotal human activity. The painting’s composition and motifs link it to Avercamp’s broader oeuvre, notably Winterlandschap met kolfspelers, which shares a comparable urban backdrop and was recorded at TEFAF in 2014. This thematic continuity situates Enjoying the ice within the artist’s specialized focus on frozen-water scenes, which documented social rituals during the Little Ice Age winters of the Dutch Republic.
Scholarly treatment of the work has emphasized its topographical specificity and its role in mapping leisure culture in the Low Countries. The painting’s inclusion in the Rijksmuseum’s collection, acquired in 1940 through the Kessler bequest, anchors it within canonical Dutch art institutions and supports its interpretation as a representative example of mid-seventeenth-century Dutch winter landscapes.
Overview
Barent Avercamp, a Dutch painter active in the mid‑17th century, completed Enjoying the Ice in 1655. The work exemplifies the winter genre that the artist pursued throughout his career, portraying everyday life on a frozen river in the Dutch Golden Age. It is currently held in the collection of the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam.
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Artist
Barent Avercamp (1612 – October 1679) was a Dutch painter. Avercamp was born in Kampen and was taught by his uncle Hendrick Avercamp, who was also a painter. Barent primarily painted scenes depicting Netherlands in…
