Eyes in ™ | Washington D.C.


hendrick avercamp


Artist


The cooperation between the National Gallery of Art in Washington D.C. and the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, led to the exhibition: The Little Ice Age-Hendrick Avercamp (1584-1634).


Hendrick Avercamp was born in Amsterdam, he worked in Kampen, far from the artistic centers of that time in Amsterdam and Haar- lem. He was known as de Stomme van Kam- pen (The Mute from Kampen) by his fellow painters. He could not speak and was proba- bly deaf as well. He had a sharp eye for visual anecdotes. Initially he painted in a manner that reflected the 16th century tradition of painting winter scenes, as Pieter Bruegel did for example.


Hendrick Avercamp | Winter Landscape with a Peat Boat (c. 1608) | Musée d’Art et d’Histoire | Geneva


He quickly became known for his own style. Avercamp was the first painter who speciali- zed in winterscapes showing people having a good time on ice.


The Small Ice Age Between 1300 and 1900 Northern Europe was hit by a number of extreme winters that were starting earlier and lasting well into what was normally spring. The period between 1550 and 1650, the period in which Avercamp lived, is known as “The Small Ice Age. ” Avercamp’s first winter painting, a winter scene with ice skaters


near a castle (1608 – 1609) is painted after1609), one of the harshest winters, which made an enormous impression on the Dutch people.


A class society goes unnoticed with the ice scenes of Avercamp. Everyone is having a good time regardless of the social back- ground they shared or not. Avercamp was, apart from painting winter scenes very good at sketching people. He used these sketches in his paintings, but also in his composition drawings.


The exhibition in Washington D.C. was curated by Arthur K. Wheelock Jr., Northern Baroque Paintings, National Gallery of Art.


Interested in this wonderful museum catalogue of Hendrick Avercamp? Visit the website of the National Gallery Art Shop - www.nga.gov


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