The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of May 8, 2026

A horizontally oriented ink and wash drawing on beige paper depicts a winter village. On the left, a gabled house with a smoking chimney is rendered in dark, expressive lines. A spindly, leafless tree rises toward the center-right, reaching toward birds in the upper right. In the background, a tall spire rises above low buildings. To the right, a figure stands on a frozen waterway beneath a single-arched stone bridge.

Winter Landscape with Skater

1662

Jan van Kessel

(Dutch, 1641–1680)
Netherlands
brush and black ink and grey wash over black chalk on cream laid paper; brown ink framing line
Sheet: 24 x 31.3 cm (9 7/16 x 12 5/16 in.); Matted: 31.1 x 36.5 x 0.5 cm (12 1/4 x 14 3/8 x 3/16 in.); Image: 17.9 x 25.8 cm (7 1/16 x 10 3/16 in.)
John L. Severance Fund 2019.7
Location: Not on view

Did You Know?

Frozen canals in 17th-century Holland were a mainstay of entertainment for skaters like the one seen in this drawing, providing access from town to town like roads.

Description

In this drawing, the Dutch landscape painter Jan van Kessel depicted a rustic rural scene showing rundown sheds beside a frozen canal with a small village church beyond. A skater glides under an overgrown stone bridge. Such rural landscape scenes, considered fundamentally Dutch, became the focus of the Dutch landscape school in the 17th century. Van Kessel was also noted for his trees; the central tree in this image was rendered with black chalk and grey ink wash to create a gently shimmering effect.
  • Private Collection, Amsterdam, Netherlands
    March 4, 2019
    the Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • Davies, Alice I. Jan Van Kessel (1641-1680). Doornspijk, the Netherlands: Davaco, 1992.
    Peters, Emily. “Acquisitions 2019: Drawings.” Cleveland Art: Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine 60, no. 2 (March/April 2020): 20-21. Reproduced: P. 21; Mentioned: P. 20, 21.
  • {{cite web|title=Winter Landscape with Skater|url=false|author=Jan van Kessel|year=1662|access-date=08 May 2026|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/2019.7