Offered by Antichità Castelbarco
Joseph van Bredael (Antwerp 1688 – Paris 1739) attributed to
Winter Landscape with a Frozen Lake and Skaters
Oil on canvas 98 x 98 cm. Framed: 112 x 112 cm.
The setting for this splendid winter landscape is a completely frozen body of water, a veritable town square, populated by numerous figures going about their daily lives, oblivious to the cold around them.
The painting thus offers a valuable snapshot of the colder seasons in Northern Europe between the 17th and 18th centuries, a period often marked by extremely harsh winters.
Winter scenes such as this one became a distinct genre of painting, reaching their peak during the Dutch Golden Age, following in the footsteps of Pieter Brueghel the Elder, one of the pioneers of these snow-covered landscapes as early as the first half of the 16th century.
What united these compositions and made them so fascinating was the coexistence of opposing social classes within the same space: the nobles and wealthy bourgeois stand out in their refined attire, with wide cloaks and feathered hats, displaying their status even on the ice, while not far from them, many commoners watch the scene from the sidelines, and children all around frolic more boisterously.
Even the modes of transportation on the ice varied according to social class: from the opulent wooden sleigh carved in the shape of a swan for a wealthy couple in love, to the more rudimentary one pushed by a man to entertain a lady seated inside.
The masters of this period were also skilled at capturing the atmosphere of landscapes; in our painting, for example, although based on a real view, the scene unfolds in an almost dreamlike setting: the sky, imposing and dramatic, is filled with rosy clouds that reflect the low-angled light of the winter sunset, enveloping the entire scene in a suspended and evocative atmosphere.
When observing the work, it is also interesting to spot playful details intended to add realism and humor to the scene, such as the woman who has clumsily slipped on the ice and is left bare from the waist down, provoking the laughter of those present.
In Flemish genre painting, artists typically depicted the lives of the common people without idealizing filters, often showing the mundane behaviors of the peasant class: the presence of the so-called “kakker” (the defecator—in our painting, the figure of a man bent over appears off to the left) is a grotesque element but at the same time an extremely common satirical device that was highly appreciated by collectors of the time.
From an attributional standpoint, our canvas can be included in the catalog of Joseph van Bredael (Antwerp 1688 – Paris 1739), a celebrated Flemish painter belonging to a renowned dynasty of Antwerp artists, internationally renowned above all for his Italianate landscapes and genre scenes, and his winter landscapes, in particular, represent one of the finest expressions of his artistic output
His work is distinguished by the extreme meticulousness of its details, typical of the miniaturist style.
This is, in fact, a typical composition by the painter, executed with skill and attention to detail, and characterized by a pleasing, soft, and delicate color palette. His compositions always feature elements typical of the Flemish rural landscape, such as windmills and hunters with dogs; even the presence of a woman who has slipped on the ice is a typical anecdotal detail found in his works.
Delevery information :
We take care of and organise the transport of the purchased works, both for Italy and abroad, through professional and insured carriers.
We take great care We personally take care of the packaging, to which we devote a great deal of care: each work is carefully packed, first with arti- cle material, then with a custom-made wooden box.
Should you have the desire to see this or other works in person, we would be happy to welcome you to our gallery in Riva del Garda, Viale Giuseppe Canella 18, we are always open by appointment only.
