Flemish painting and De Jonckheere Gallery's old master paintings
Provenance:
De Jonckheere Gallery; Private collection
A contemporary of Hendrick Avercamp, Anthonie Verstraelen also specialised in painting snowy landscapes. Using a perfect perspective as...
read moreProvenance:
De Jonckheere Gallery; Private collection
A contemporary of Hendrick Avercamp, Anthonie Verstraelen also specialised in painting snowy landscapes. Using a perfect perspective as well as extensive atmospheric effects, the painter combines the poetry of the theme and the characters' pranks to make our Winter landscape with a skating scene on a frozen river lined with windmills one of the finest examples of his art.
Contrary to his usual style, Verstraelen punctuates his painting with a large number of figures. Rendered as small red, orangey, bronze or pearly grey touches, they are scattered throughout a panorama full of serenity. His landscape, bathed in a soft light, is the work of a master. The hustle and bustle of the people is mixed with the magic of the sky and the calm of the countryside. Every element seen here belongs to the pure tradition of the Amsterdam-style of winter landscape initiated by Hendrick Avercamp. The atmospheric effects presented here are worthy of the master’s best paintings, such as the one exhibited in The Hague .
The artist follows a model that produces the desired effect: in the foreground, elegant city dwellers try their hand at the many games taking place on the frozen canal. Kolf (the ancestor of hockey), sledging and especially skating are all being practised in front of the fearful onlookers standing on the riverbanks. The beauty of the figures, dressed in 17th century Dutch fashions, resides in their choreographed attitudes. In the foreground, two skaters skating at full speed resemble two synchronised dancers. Several of them have their back to the viewer while others are seen in profile: the great variety shown by Verstraelen demonstrates his great pictorial repertoire. His painting, endowed with a pleasing rhythm and a perfect balance, can be compared to those of Avercamp.
The riverbanks surrounding this frozen space are occupied by charming little houses while in the distance, the towers and belfries of a town pierce the horizon. In our winter landscape, the sails of two imposing windmills stand out against a snow-filled sky. They are, of course, the distinctive sign of a Dutch atmosphere, which Verstraelen likes to portray in many of his works . Historically, winter was first portrayed in Flemish painting. The pleasures depicted therein were often associated with fears of the hardships lying ahead. The painted landscape therefore contained an underlying message that was more moral and philosophical. No danger can be detected in this painting by Verstraelen. With the different customs of this different era, the artist endeavours to share with the viewer the joy the Dutch middle classes would have experienced on a winter afternoon… This great artist brilliantly achieves this here.
1593 Gorinchem - Amsterdam 1641
Probably born in Gorinchem around 1593, Anthonie Verstralen is mentioned in the registers of the city of Amsterdam in 1628, the date of his marriage. It is here...
1593 Gorinchem - Amsterdam 1641
Probably born in Gorinchem around 1593, Anthonie Verstralen is mentioned in the registers of the city of Amsterdam in 1628, the date of his marriage. It is here that he appears to have settled permanently and where he specialised in winter landscapes, a genre that developed in Amsterdam at the beginning of the seventeenth century around two principal figures, Hendrick Avercamp and Arent Arentsz, known as Cabel. It is highly likely that they knew each other and exercised mutual influence to such an extent that it is difficult to determine who was actually the creator of the genre.
The work of Verstralen is characterised by a clear representation and a simple composition in which a wide canal or river that has frozen over is animated by a relatively small number of figures. Generally, the centre remains unoccupied in order to better bring out the atmospheric rendering of these peaceful winter scenes. The figures, captured as they go about their diverse daily activities, bear witness to an increasing interest in realism, and it was the particular sense of observation that was at the root of the rapid success these paintings.
The generally low horizon line, the tendency towards monochromatic unification and blending of the sky and the horizon, and the extended format according to a distinctly modern conception denote an ongoing concern for the balance between the narrative aspect provided by the figures with their games and the representation of Winter, the true protagonist of the scene.
The unity of this work is the result of the artist's smooth brushwork as well as the luminous perspective which unifies the different planes through scarcely perceptible transitions, creating the delicate harmony that is characteristic of Verstralen.
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