Fishermen on a frozen river c.1620
Pen and brown ink with watercolour over graphite | 9.0 x 14.0 cm (sheet of paper) | RCIN 906475
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A drawing of three men fishing through holes in the ice, watched by three spectators. Behind them are two figures with a sledge, with other figures. In the background there is a village with two churches and a windmill. RL 6465-6513 amount to nearly one third of Avercamp's known drawings and represent the largest holding in one collection. They cover all categories of his drawings- studies of single figures, and groups, genre scenes and landscapes- and illustrate his considerable variety in finish and technique. In general the artist did not make preparatory drawings. They seem to have been made for their own sake, and some of the more finished coloured sheets were probably sold. The remainder served as a vocabulary of human behaviour as for the most part seen in the provincial town of Kampen.
Provenance
First recorded in a Royal Collection inventory of c.1810 (Inv. A, p. 118: '42. Drawings of some Master in the Stile of Breughel, representing the Diversions of the Dutch and Flemish on the Ice &c: with some Drawings of single figures for the Dresses only').
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Creator(s)
Acquirer(s)
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Medium and techniques
Pen and brown ink with watercolour over graphite
Measurements
9.0 x 14.0 cm (sheet of paper)