Attributed to Adam van Breen

With Galerie Dr. Benedict & Co., Berlin, by October 1927 (C. Hofstede de Groot judged for this art dealer, as Esaias van de Velde);

Mr. Wiggers;

From whom acquired by P. de Boer, Amsterdam, by November 1936, for 4000 mark, according to a note on the card in Kunsthandel P. de Boer archive (as Esaias van de Velde);

From whom acquired by Levie Hakker, Amsterdam, by February 1937;

From whom confiscated by the Lippmann, Rosenthal & Co Bank (Liro bank) in 1941/ 1942;

Dienststelle Mühlmann, The Hague, 24 February 1942;

Recovered into the custody of the Dutch Government (NK 2610 and NK2178), 5 May 1945 (as Esaias van de Velde);

Restituted to the Heirs of Levie Hakker in 2007 (following a recommendation by the Dutch Restitutions Committee / RC 1.42)

Gemeentemuseum Arnhem, Schilderijen Gemeentemuseum Arnhem, Arnhem 1965, p. 137 (as Esaias van de Velde);

E. van Straaten, Koud tot op het bot. De verbeelding van de winter in de zestiende en zeventiende eeuws in de Nederlanden, The Hague 1977, p. 110, cat. no. XII, reproduced (as Esaias van de Velde);

G.S. Keyes, Esaias van den Velde 1587-1630, Doornspijk 1987, p. 199, no. 37 (as Adam van Breen);

E. de Heer, F. Kuyvenhoven and E. Mijnlieff, Rijksdienst Beeldende Kunst: old master paintings: an illustrated summary catalogue, Zwolle 1992, pp. 297-298, no. 2625 (as Esaias van de Velde);

E. Bergvelt and M. Jonker, Dutch and Flemish paintings: Dulwich Picture Gallery, London 2016, p. 33, under DPG574 (as attributed to Adam van Breen and as not by the same hand as the painting attributed to Christoffel van den Berghe in the Dulwich Picture Gallery);

M. Jonker and E. Bergvelt, Catalogue of Dulwich Picture Gallery. Dutch, Flemish and German Schools, with addenda to the British School, published online as a RKD Study in 2021, under DPG514 (as attributed to Adam van Breen).

Utrecht, Vereniging “Voor de Kunst”, Kersttentoonstelling 1936 van schilderijen der 17e eeuw, 1936 (as Esaias van de Velde);

Grand Rapids, Michigan, Grand Rapids Art Museum; Kalamazoo, Kalamazoo Institute of Arts; Holland, Michigan, Dewitt Center Art Gallery at Hope College; Muskegon, Michigan, Hackley Art Gallery, Landscapes from the Golden Age: An Exhibition of Seventeenth Century Dutch Paintings, 19 May – 11 October 1972, no. 13 (as attributed to Esaias van de Velde; revised in the annotated RKD copy to Adam van Breen, an attribution due to Hofstede de Groot);

Leiden, Stedelijk Museum de Lakenhal, Het Hollandse 17^de eeuwse landschap, 20 October – 26 November 1972, no. 13 (as Esaias van de Velde);

Alkmaar, Stedelijk Museum Alkmaar, Koud tot op het bot. Winterlandschappen in de 16^de en 17^de eeuw, Winter 1977 – 1978, no. 24 (as Esaias van de Velde);

Amsterdam, Waterman Gallery; Zwolle, Provinciehuis, Frozen Silence: Hendrick Avercamp 1585-1634, Barent Avercamp 1612-1679), Paintings from Museums and Private Collections, 23 April – 28 May 1982, no. 28 (as Adam van Breen, according to George S. Keyes).

With roots that developed in the 15th and 16th centuries, the winter landscape became a quintessentially Dutch genre in the 17th century, during the so-called "Little Ice Age" when the Netherlands experienced several particularly severe winters. The genre was first made popular early in the century by artists such as Hendrick Avercamp, David Vinckboons, and Adam van Breen, to whom the present elegant example is presently attributed. Works such as this celebrate the pleasures of such wintery conditions, depicting not only the pastimes associated with myriad frozen waterways, but also the heights of fashion in dress and modes of transport.

In this panel, numerous figures and couples be distinguished throughout the bustling snowy scene. The flat landscape on the outskirts of a town can be characterized by by a high horizon and a delicate atmospheric perspective that poetically draws the viewer into the depth of the picture plane filled with various activities. For example, on the left, three men are engaged in a game of kolf, an early Dutch version of the sport today known as golf, several elegantly dressed couples are gathered in the foreground, and an an ijszeilboot (ice yacht) is depicted upon the ice in the distance. These wind-powered sailing boats were supported by metal runners and could transport people or goods at high speed across the slick surface.

This painting bears some similarities to a panel attributed to Christoffel van den Berghe in the Dulwich Picture Gallery, London.¹ The painting can also be closely compared compositionally to at least two other works attributed to Adam van Breen, including one sold at Sotheby's Monaco in 1994² and another at Phillips London in July 2000.³ In those two examples, however, there is an additional building on the right side of the composition and the city in the distance is slightly more visible.

¹ Inv. no. DPG514

² Oil on panel, 47 by 80 cm. Sotheby's Monaco, 19 June 1994, lot 405, as Adam van Breen for $202,999.

³ Oil on panel, 74 by 105.5 cm. Phillips London, 4 July 2000, lot 73, as Adam van Breen for $363,461.