Winter Landscape with a Hunter and his Dog
Hendrick Avercamp
An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art
Hendrick Avercamp, one of the most beloved painters of the Dutch Golden Age, is renowned for his iconic winter landscapes. Already in his own time the artist enjoyed great popularity, and it is therefore not surprising that his work was avidly copied and imitated. This drawing seemingly shows the typical Avercamp icescape. To the left, a hunter and his dog observe another huntsman in action. In the distance, small groups of figures skate across the ice. The wide and low horizon, with the sky coloring orange and pink, is equally characteristic of Avercamp’s winter scenes. Several stylistic properties, however, pose room for doubt about the drawing's authenticity. The figures in Avercamp’s finished drawings are characterized by a great accuracy in the rendering of posture as well as a high degree of detail in the execution of costume and physiognomy; aspects that are lacking in this sheet. The physique of the standing man is noticeably stiff and crude, and both he and his dog seem to be hoovering above the ground instead of standing firmly fixed. Another striking difference is the limited subtlety of the drawing’s coloring. Compared to the variety of hues found on other finished drawings by Avercamp, the author of our landscape used a limited palette, with which he colored all three figures. In comparison with, for example, the Rijksmuseum’s Duck Hunter on the Bank of a Frozen River, one is moreover struck by the limitedly detailed execurtion of the background of the Museum's sheet (Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, RP-T-1898-A-3738). The author of this drawing remains anonymous. He or a later owner deceivingly added Avercamp’s monogram in the lower left corner. Considering the artist’s popularity, both in his own days as well as in later centuries, the forgery of artworks would have been a profitable business.
Drawings and Prints
An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art
The Department’s vast collection of works on paper comprises approximately 21,000 drawings, 1.2 million prints, and 12,000 illustrated books created in Europe and the Americas from about 1400 to the present day. Since its foundation in 1916, the Department has been committed to collecting a wide range of works on paper, which includes both pieces that are incredibly rare and lauded for their aesthetic appeal, as well as material that is more popular, functional, and ephemeral. The broad scope of the department’s collecting encourages questions of connoisseurship as well as those pertaining to function and context, and demonstrates the vital role that prints, drawings, and illustrated books have played throughout history.