Winter Landscape with Ice Skaters

There's so much to see in this image, can you spot the figure who has fallen over on the ice? There's also a toddler learning to walk in the lower left hand side and - bang in the middle - a man relieving himself right by the ice! Hendrick Avercamp turned the winter landscape into a subject in its own right and included all kinds of uncouth features in this bird’s-eye view, including couples making love and using the toilet.

Winter Landscape with Skaters is considered one of Avercamp's earliest works, and is painted in a style strongly reminiscent of Pieter Bruegel the Elder's 1565 painting Winter Landscape with Ice skaters and Bird trap. Some aspects of this picture are taken directly from Bruegel's works, such as the "bird trap" which also appears in other works by Avercamp. He was influenced in his subject by the Little Ice Age, particularly the cold winter of 1607–08, and was the first of the Dutch painters to specialise in snow scenes.