Art Institute of Chicago

Interior in an Inn, called "The Skaters" (De Schaatsenrijder)

Cornelis Visscher (Dutch, c. 1629-1658)

Date

c. 1655

Medium

Etching and engraving on cream laid paper

Culture

Holland

Department

Prints and Drawings

Institution

Art Institute of Chicago

Throughout his career, the Dutch painter Adriaen van Ostade depicted rustic genre scenes of peasants enjoying village pleasures; these had a major influence on the subject matter of Dutch art both during and after the 17th century. Cornelis Visscher’s work echoes the liveliness and warmth of Van Ostade’s, showing a merry group of peasants gathering in an interior to talk and enjoy a smoke. The small pair of skates on the floor in the center of the foreground indicates that the group may have returned from an afternoon of ice-skating, a popular leisure activity during the period.

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