Andreas Schelfhout

Gus Stern, Colorado (sale: Sotheby's, New York, 12 May 1975, lot 112)
Private Collection, The Netherlands

Willem Laanstra, Andreas Schelfhout 1787-1870, Amsterdam, 1995, p. 72, no. W1835-1, catalogued & illustrated

The canvas has been relined. There is some retouching visible under ultraviolet light, notably addressing craquelure across the centre of the sky, and spots near the centre of the lower edge. Apart from faint hairline craquelure, notably in the left half of the sky, this work is ready to hang. Held in a decorative gold-painted wood and plaster frame.
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NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

Andreas Schelfhout was one of the most important and influential Dutch landscapists of his time. His perfectly balanced compositions, superb brushwork and masterful depictions of ice earned him the nickname 'the Claude Lorrain of the winter scene'.

The present work is an excellent example of his virtuosity. It depicts a frozen canal with skaters on the glassy ice. In the middle distance, figures are gathered around a refreshment stall. In this work Schelfhout strikes a perfect balance between his much-praised free brush technique and intricate detail. He uses bright, fresh colours, and populates the composition with a variety of figures. The many scratches, fissures and reflections on the ice are meticulously crafted and recorded with his customary natural facility.

Schelfhout was the son of Jean Baptist Schelfhout, a gilder and frame maker from Ghent. Until the age of twenty-four, he worked in his father's business, until he was apprenticed to Johannes Breckenheimer, a stage designer in The Hague, where he studied for four years. As this was the only formal artistic education he received, Schelfhout considered himself self-taught.