Winter wonderland

 

Winter Landscape - Hendrick Avercamp (about 1630). “Winter was fun in the 1630s to judge from this painting by a Dutch artist who specialised in snowy scenes. They had no central heating or modern thermal clothes, bubonic plague remained rife and famine was a threat – but the people in this picture couldn’t care less. They’re too busy enjoying the ice, whose vast expanse is crowded with fun-seekers. There’s even a game of ice-golf. Avercamp sets it all in a mysterious pale world of frozen whites and misty yellows. His art of winter reflects the period known as the Little Ice Age when temperatures plummeted in Europe and scenes like this also occurred on the River Thames.” National Galleries of Scotland

 

Frosty Morning - JMW Turner (1813). “A man and girl stop to watch workers on a frozen roadside while another figure comes up the cold lane towards them. The earth is a hard glistening mystery. Morning’s light reveals a terrible chill in the atmosphere. Turner makes us see the beauty and bitterness of the countryside in winter.” Tate

 Lavacourt Under Snow -  Claude Monet (1878-81). “Winter really is a wonderland in Monet’s scintillated eyes. Alive to the fleeting impressions of light, he joys in the blue snowy foreground giving way to the golden glitter of an icy sky.” The National Gallery 

 Massacre of the Innocents - Pieter Bruegel the Elder (circa 1565-67). “The first artist to show the wonder of winter was Bruegel – but there’s not much skating going on in this snowbound village where soldiers have arrived to slaughter newborns at the behest of King Herod. Rudolf II, who owned this, had much of the violence painted out – perhaps so he could sit back and enjoy the snow.” The Royal Collection Trust, Wikipedia, The Royal Collection Trust: Surprising Revelations