As everyone around the UK., is begining to feel the cold blast of Winter, let us look at how artists how depicted this season.
To me this painting captures the biting cold of winter, the blue grey pallet of colours gives every surface a hard edge. We have the constrast of the easy movements of the skaters compared to the weary figures of the hunters and dogs. For all their efforts they bring back only one meagre fox.
The four seasons: Winter by Francois Boucher 1755
In complete contrast to the Bruegel is this depiction of Winter by Boucher. A complete fantasy but very typical of a painter from the court of Madame de Pomadour. Do not be fooled though, for all the paintings sweet charm, it is excuted by a master hand with outstanding draughtsmanship.
A winter scene with skaters near a castle by Hendrick Avercamp
The Dutch were known throughout Europe for their ability to paint landscape and figures with-in the landscape and no where is this better captured than in this painting of a winter landscape with skaters. The brown grey pallet of the landscape is softly off-set by the pink, greens and creams of the figures. Our eye is lead through the painting through the sinuous line of skaters each in various states of balance as they try to master their skating. At the same time we have the feeling of being an onlooker as the majority of figures have their backs to us and feeling is further enhanced by the circular canvas.
The wreck of the ‘Hope’ by Caspar David Friedrich 1823-24
This painting encaptures the might of nature over humankind, which was a common theme with Romantic artists. This arctic shipwreck has been crushed under the weight of the ice bergs into giant splitters of ice, stone and wood. There is no sign of life across this most barren of landscapes.
Maja Pitamic 