Winter landscape with figures skating on a frozen body of water in a roundel composition; a church and trees in the foreground; a bridge, churches, and windmills beyond
ca. 1625–60
Medium
Etching
Dimensions
sheet: 6 3/16 x 5 13/16 in. (15.7 x 14.7 cm) plate: 6 x 5 5/8 in. (15.3 x 14.3 cm)
Classification
Prints
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Bequest of Phyllis Massar, 2011
Accession Number
2012.136.60
Tags
Art Historical Context
This enchanting etching captures a quintessential Dutch winter scene from the Golden Age, circa 1625–60. Attributed to landscape painter Matthijs van Plberg, with Jean Morin likely responsible for the printmaking, it depicts skaters gliding joyfully on a frozen waterway within a distinctive roundel—a circular composition that draws the eye inward like asted windowpane. In the foreground, a church and bare trees frame the action, while beyond a bridge, distant churches, and windmills evoke the flat, watery expanses of the Netherlands. Winter landscapes like this were immensely popular in 17th-...
About the Artist
Matthijs van Plattenberg|Jean Morin (French|Flemish) · 1605 |1600 –1650 |1660
French, Paris ca. 1605–1650 Paris|Flemish, Antwerp ca. 1608–1660 Paris