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Skating on a Frozen River
Painting by Aert van der Neer, c1650
So what captured your eye first? The ice? The windmill? The blue of the sky? The sledgers? Or maybe, like me, it was that empty basket at the front on the left?
In 17th century Holland, winters were severe. Rivers and canals regularly froze solid so business was as usual — work or play just continued onto the ice.
On the right, a group of men play ‘kolf’. The aim was to hit a small ball towards a target in the minimum strikes. (Sound familiar?) It was very popular.
Aert might be showing the difficulty of fishing at that time with the empty nets. The basket could be part of the empty eel trap that is submerged there.
This landscape was imagined by Aert based on his drawings. Although talented, he never achieved financial success as a painter. He sadly died in abject poverty.
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