Hendrick Avercamp

Hendrick Avercamp was a Dutch painter who specialized in lively winter scenes during the Dutch Golden Age. Born in 1585 and deaf from an early age, he was known as the mute of Kampen after the town where he worked. He built a whole career around one favorite subject, frozen canals and rivers crowded with people skating, playing, and going about their business on the ice.

His paintings are packed with tiny, closely watched figures, from wealthy skaters in fine clothes to children, workers, and the occasional mishap on the ice. Together they paint a warm, detailed portrait of Dutch life in the depths of winter. Avercamp's cheerful, busy ice scenes are among the most charming records of everyday life from seventeenth century Holland.