Esaias van de Velde

In the last decade of his short life, Van de Velde began to turn away from the more anecdotal compositions that had characterised his earlier explorations of winter landscapes, beginning to concentrate more on the purely visual, rather than human, qualities of winter.  The present work, signed and dated 1628, seems to illustrate Van de Velde's ability to amalgamate both of these visual traits in his work. Set on a still and crisp winter day, he contrasts the intense white of the snow, interrupted only by a few desperate foot prints, with the seemingly overcast sky, broken in places by intermittent darker clouds.

Much like many of his early 17th-century contemporaries in the Netherlands, Van de Velde portrayed numerous scenes of life on the rivers and canals of the country, focusing often on the role these waterways played in the everyday lives of those who lived and worked in close proximity to them. A number of his winter landscapes feature men and women using the frozen canals in a variety of different ways, whether in the form of work¹ or, more frequently, leisure.²

The present work is however a departure from these rather more typical subjects; here the artist also reflects on the perils of life on these frozen waterways.  In the foreground a man is pulled out from a break in the ice by another with a boat hook, the gaping hole, surrounded by cracks in the ice, a reminder of what could have been a tragic outcome were it not for those who have come to his aid.  On the right bank a desperate woman, possibly the wife of the rescued, has her arms raised pleading for help, while beyond her another figure can be seen in the doorway of a farmhouse with arms raised in panic at the treacherous scene taking place before them.

Of all Esaias's drawings, some of the most atmospheric and powerful are his winter scenes, in which the technical mastery with which he manages to use the blank, white paper to create a convincing snow-covered landscape is truly exceptional.  Looking at a drawing such as this, or at the only other outstanding winter landscape to have come on the market in the past three decades (now in the Abrams Collection³), the illusion is so total that one finds oneself reaching for coat and hat, it feels so cold.

^1. G.S. Keyes, Esaias van den Velde, 1587-1630, Doornspijk 1984, p. 241, cat. no. D 88, pl. 210, reproduced

^2. Ibid., pp. 231-232, cat. no. D 61, pl. 261, reproduced

^3. Sold, Amsterdam, Sotheby's, 13 November 1991, lot 283; Keyes, op. cit., pp. 37-38, 71, 236-37, no. D 76, pl. 214