Andreas Schelfhout Dutch, The Hague 1787 - 1870

Andreas Schelfhout was one the most applauded painters of his time, universally admired for his wonderful winter landscapes with skaters on the ice. Building on a grand tradition that blossomed in the seventeenth century, Schelfhout acquired international fame with his perfectly balanced compositions, superb brushwork and unsurpassed depiction of the sky and ice. No wonder he soon came to be known as 'the Dutch Claude Lorrain'. B.C. Koekkoek, himself a pioneer of Dutch romantic landschape painting, wrote admiringly: 'Would you like to see a flat and simple country scene, carrying the mark of nature, the brand of truth, made into a piece of elegance and beauty, then consider the works of our great Schelfhout. There you will find nature depicted at its most gracious, but at the same time with a faithfulness and truth which is only Schelfhout capable of to achieve'.

The present lot, painted at the pinnacle of the artists' fame, is in many ways a great example of Schelfhout's virtuosity. It shows a classical skating scene with many figures on a frozen waterway, some gathered around the refreshment stall, others cheerfully enjoying themselves on the glassy ice. In this picture, executed in 1842, Schelfhout strikes a perfect balance between his much praised, free brush technique and a quest for intricate detail. The masterful treatment of the ice is one of the hallmarks of Schelfhout's refined romanticism. The many scratches, tears and floes are depicted with great natural quality, painted effortlessly, sometimes only hinting at it with the back of his brush. The lively skating scene is seen in a typically Dutch winter landscape with a windmill, set under a cloudy yet translucent sky. The low horizon renders a great depth to the painting and allows the eye of the beholder to travel for miles to the figures and buildings in the far distance.

Schelfhout, who was born in a family of gilders and frame makers, regarded himself as largely self-taught. He received little formal education and often declared that nature was his only teacher. His unique talent surfaced for the first time in 1818, when he exhibited one of his first winter landscapes at the exhibition of Living Masters. It received immense critical acclaim and marked the beginning of a successful career. Up to this day he is seen as the first and foremost painter of romantic winter landscapes, admired for their naturalness and tranquil poetry. It prompted one critic to exclaim in 1852: 'one could not paint more exquisitely'.

The present lot was bought directly from the artist and stayed in the same family ever since that day.