These highly detailed paintings transport us back to a time when Dutch waterways regularly froze in the cold of winter. In his landscapes, people young and old, rich and poor, share both the joy and the hardship of the Little Ice Age. This climatic phenomenon, which peaked in the 17th and early 18th centuries, was characterized by extremely severe winters that arrived early and lasted well into spring. Avercamp's earliest dated painting, from 1608, came after a winter in which temperatures averaged well below freezing.
Averkamp was born in Amsterdam but spent most of his childhood and adult life in Kampen, a small city far removed from that artistic center. His powers of observation may have been heightened by his disabilities—he was unable to speak and probably also unable to hear. His minute details of village life indelibly shape the modern perception of the Dutch winter in the Little Ice Age.
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