A Frozen River near a Village, with Golfers and Skaters
- Artist: Aert van der Neer
- Date: about 1648
- Medium: oil on canvas
- Museum: The National Gallery
- Collection record: The National Gallery website
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About this artwork
This is the "A Frozen River near a Village, with Golfers and Skaters" by Aert van der Neer. Painted around 1648, it's an oil on canvas masterpiece from the Middle Ages, but it became particularly popular in seventeenth-century Holland.
Notice how the light catches one man about to strike the ball with his long club? He stands out in his white shirt sleeves and kolfer’s stance. The villagers are at play, enjoying the winter scene. European winters were severe back then, and rivers and canals would freeze so solid that life would move out onto them.
Van der Neer's village is painted with affectionate detail, crisp outlines and a dusting of snow. Each branch of the leafless trees is silhouetted against mounting clouds. The landscape itself is imaginary, but he would have known the buildings from drawings and sketches made outside.
You can see the warmth and character in the small figures, drawn first and then transferred into paint in the studio. The old buildings are treated with equal care and fondness. Despite his entertaining pictures, Van der Neer died bankrupt, struggling to make a living as an artist who kept an inn on the side.
See it in person
A Frozen River near a Village, with Golfers and Skaters hangs in The National Gallery on Trafalgar Square, London — free to enter. Point your phone at any artwork there and audioguide.london plays a free audio guide in six languages — no app download needed.
