ANDRIES VERMEULEN | Figures skating on a frozen river by a windmill

Anonymous sale, London, Christie's, 2 April 1954, lot 57, to Schelwald (according to a mount at the Witt Library, London);

Anonymous sale, London, Bonhams, 29 October 2014, lot 204.

Andries Vermeulen studied under his father Cornelis Vermeulen the Younger, an ornamental painter and picture dealer. Andries was primarily a painter of landscapes, and particularly excelled in producing winter scenes with townspeople skating on the frozen canals of Holland. This picture provides such an example - groups of figures donning ice skates are scattered throughout the composition performing quotidian tasks, such as loading a horse's carriage or conversing among themselves.