Winter
Adriaen Pietersz van de Venne
ADRIAEN PIETERSZ VAN DE VENNE, 1625. OIL ON PANEL.
Commercially viable but laden with political and religious allegories, the work of van de Venne achieved him enormous success and fame in his lifetime, becoming a popular illustrator of the current day. This work, one of a series depicting the changing seasons, is exemplary of his style, full as it is with wry wit, shrewd observations and a genuine, aesthetic beauty. Revellers skate across a frozen lake at the height of winter, wearing ornamental garb that shows their wealth. To their left, an old, peasant women and her two young children stand with a look of worry across their faces, on the precipice of the land and water. It is a painting of two halves, a sign of the differences in culture explained through the mediums of the earth. On the bank, there is poverty and crudeness; a man defecates by a tree while a dog does the same infant of him, a figure looks perversely at the revealed bottom of a fallen woman and the trees are bear and sad. The colours are muted browns and greys that speak to a sadness of the winter period. Yet, on the right hand sign, a winter sun shines and wealth abounds in fanciful dress, playful movement and bright colours. Van de Venne creates a work of truthful duality, a portrait of a nation in winter time, divided by inhabiting the same space.