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Two Old Men beside a Sled Bearing the Coats of Arms of Amsterdam and Utrecht

A work made of opaque and translucent watercolors, with pen and brown ink, over graphite, on cream laid paper.
CC0 Public Domain Designation

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  • A work made of opaque and translucent watercolors, with pen and brown ink, over graphite, on cream laid paper.

Date:

1620/33

Artist:

Hendrick Avercamp
Netherlandish, 1585-c.1633

About this artwork

Hendrick Avercamp frequently depicted recreational activities on ice. But it is unclear whether the figures here are at leisure or work. The seated postman in blue may be concluding his daily rounds between Utrecht and Amsterdam (as the coats of arms at the back of his sled imply). His clothing is more formal than that of the older, standing men, which suggests that they come from different social classes. Behind these principal figures, workers push goods across the frozen river to tall ships in the distance.

Avercamp employed many different kinds of media to create this work and placed each element with care. He first drew the composition with graphite and then precisely applied different tones of watercolor with fine brushes. The resulting drawing effectively conveys frozen water, frigid air, and the sun setting against a northern sky.

Status

Currently Off View

Department

Prints and Drawings

Artist

Hendric Avercamp

Title

Two Old Men beside a Sled Bearing the Coats of Arms of Amsterdam and Utrecht

Place

Netherlands (Artist's nationality:)

Date  Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.

1620–1633

Medium

Opaque and translucent watercolors, with pen and brown ink, over graphite, on cream laid paper

Inscriptions

Inscribed verso, center, in pen and brown ink: "20010"; lower left, in graphite: "brbs/ 3180" (in oval); in graphite: "Avercamp"; lower left, in pen and ink: "2074"; center in graphite: "coll. Ten Cate cat. 1955 # 173"

Dimensions

18.3 × 30 cm (7 1/4 × 11 13/16 in.)

Credit Line

Clarence Buckingham Collection

Reference Number

1965.30

IIIF Manifest  The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world.

Learn more.

https://api.artic.edu/api/v1/artworks/22646/manifest.json

Extended information about this artwork

Object information is a work in progress and may be updated as new research findings emerge. To help improve this record, please email . Information about image downloads and licensing is available here.

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