Winter Landscape  1665

by Jacob Isaacksz. van Ruisdael

Ruisdael painted around 25 winter landscapes. This scene is dominated by ominous dark clouds, and lit from the left by low, raking sunlight. The warmly dressed figures on the ice seem insignificant in the face of this inclement weather. A cheerful crowd of ice skaters would have been out of place in such a wintery landscape by Ruisdael.
Credit: 
Courtesy of Rijksmuseum