Art Guide · Painters
Hendrick Avercamp
1585–1634
Hendrick Avercamp (1585–1634) was the Dutch master of winter scenes, painting crowds skating, playing and chatting on frozen canals.
Last updated: · Iconica Society editors
Life
Baptised in Amsterdam in 1585, he grew up in the town of Kampen. He was deaf from birth and probably mute; his contemporaries called him “the Mute of Kampen”. After training in Amsterdam he returned to Kampen, where he spent the rest of his life.
Style and key works
Avercamp painted the freezing Dutch winters of Europe’s “Little Ice Age” in lively, crowded scenes. Under wide, softly coloured skies, peasants, gentlefolk, sledges and games on the ice are told in tiny detail. Many of his works are in the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam.
Key works
Shop Hendrick Avercamp posters →Frequently asked questions
Why did Avercamp paint winter scenes?
In the Little Ice Age the Dutch canals froze often, and the ice was a place where all of society came together; these scenes gave him both a subject and a market.
Where are Avercamp’s works?
Many of his most important works are in the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam and the Mauritshuis in The Hague.