Skating in Holland

This work is a good example of Schelfhout's late production in which he executed several winter compositions reminiscent of the 17th century genre tradition. The highly detailed brushwork and jewel-like quality of the painting also recall the technique of the watercolour, an activity for which Schelfhout was famous and highly appreciated. The blue and pink hues in the dominating sky enhance the sense of coldness due to the winter conditions and witness the persistent interest of Dutch artists in nature and its atmospheric effects in Holland. Essential characteristic of the Dutch countryside is the windmill represented on the right while the figures do not look particularly from the 19th century but could also belong to a most remote past. This painting witnesses therefore in many ways the long lasting influence of the seventeenth century Dutch tradition of genre and landscape painting.