A Scene on the Ice near Dordrecht
- Artist: Jan van Goyen
- Date: 1642
- Medium: oil on canvas
- Museum: The National Gallery
- Collection record: The National Gallery website
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About this artwork
This is "A Scene on the Ice near Dordrecht" painted in 1642 by Jan van Goyen. You'll notice how he's managed to pack this picture full of incident and humour, capturing life on the ice in seventeenth-century Dordrecht. People are everywhere, squeezing into horse-drawn sledges or zooming across the ice on their own. Some play a game that looks like golf – we don't know for sure what it is, but it's definitely not very successful. There's one poor fellow who's fallen over and can't get up, watched by an unhelpful dog. The air is still with a mist of frost, yet the picture seems to move – look at that skirt flapping in the breeze or that hat skidding across the ice.
You'll also notice some people standing around chatting while others take it easy on their sledges. We can tell who's experienced and moving quickly and who's not so sure on the ice. The building over there on the right is the Riedijk water gate, outside Dordrecht, and way off in the distance across the Merwede river stands Merwede Castle – you might notice it's already a ruin by van Goyen's time.
See it in person
A Scene on the Ice near Dordrecht 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.
