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KLAES MOLENAER (Haarlem 1626/ 1629 – Haarlem 1676)

A Winter Landscape with Skaters on a Frozen River Outside a Village

signed K.

Molenaer in the lower left

oil on panel 7 x 9 inches (18 x 23.5 cm)

Klaes Molenaer is renowned for his winter scenes.

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These works reflect the influence of his contemporary and fellow Haarlem artists Jacob van Ruisdael as well as Isaak van Ostade. Outside the old stone walls of a Dutch town a frozen river is filled with skaters. A dusting of snow is evident on the buildings, shrubs and trees.

Three figures are gathered around a horse drawn sledge in the lower left foreground, while a man pushes a small sledge down a ramp nearby.

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The flow on the ice commences in the right center foreground with a villager fastening his skate, while other skaters dot the ice far into the depths of the composition. The sky is a wintry mix of white, grey and purple. The low vantage point of the scene grants the viewer the sense of immediate accessibility