The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of May 31, 2026

A vertically oriented drawing in black and red chalk on blue paper depicts two stacked sketches. Above, a woman with a light skin tone kneels to wash red fabric, loosely outlined with soft shading while another stands behind. Below, two men wearing seventeenth-century attire and tall hats are rendered with light skin tones. One man gestures with an outstretched arm toward the other, who stands facing him with hands at his side.

A Woman Doing Laundry in an Ice Hole (recto); Two Gentlemen (verso)

c. 1618

Hendrick Avercamp

(Netherlandish, 1585–1634)
Netherlands
black and red chalk, graphite, watercolor, pen and black ink, black and red chalk, graphite, watercolor (verso) on blue paper
Norman O. Stone and Ella A. Stone Memorial Fund 2024.74
Location: Not on view

Did You Know?

Though incomplete due to the cut of the sheet, the gestures of the men on the back of this drawing suggest they could be engaged in a game of kolf, a ball and paddle game played on the ice that appears frequently in the artist’s winter scenes.

Description

Seventeenth-century Dutch artist Hendrick Avercamp became widely known for his near-exclusive production of winter landscapes, often featuring large crowds made up of different social classes congregated on the Netherlands’ iced canals and rivers and engaged in various activities from ice skating and socializing to doing laundry, fishing, and hauling goods. In this drawing, he sketched a woman squatting to do laundry at a hole in the ice, accompanied by a child who wipes tears from her eyes. On the verso (back) of the same sheet, two men in elegant, middle-class attire appear to be socializing. The artist kept such sheets in his workshop for reference in his larger, multi-figured, finished compositions.
  • {{cite web|title=A Woman Doing Laundry in an Ice Hole (recto); Two Gentlemen (verso)|url=false|author=Hendrick Avercamp|year=c. 1618|access-date=31 May 2026|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/2024.74