Why the deaf-mute painter of the late Middle Ages painted only winter landscapes: Hendrik Averkamp

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

For many readers, the noun "winter" is most often associated with the adjective "Russian". Especially when it comes to painting, the names of Russian classical artists Ivan Shishkin, Boris Kustodiev, Igor Grabar immediately come to mind … But today you will have the opportunity to see an amazing selection of winter landscapes Dutch painter Hendrik Averkamp, created in the first half of the 17th century, in the late Middle Ages.

Turning the pages of a biography

Avercamp Hendrick, nicknamed "The Mute of Kampen" (1585–1634), was a Dutch Baroque painter. Hendrik Averkamp was born in Amsterdam, and a year later his family moved to Kampen, where Henrik's father was promoted to city pharmacist. The future artist was born deaf and dumb for which he later received his nickname "Mute from Kampen". Mom, the daughter of a well-known scientist at that time, taught her son to write and draw, thanks to which he was able to further express his childhood feelings in drawings. And the little boy did it very talentedly. Therefore, the parents decided to send their twelve-year-old son to the pupil of the drawing teacher. However, his studies did not last long, the master soon died of the plague.

At the age of eighteen, Averkamp went to Amsterdam, where he began to learn the basics of painting from the Danish portrait painter Peter Izaks. The young artist did not work out with the portraits, but he was completely absorbed by the genre and landscape themes, to which he would devote all his work entirely in the future. The inability to sense this world with the help of hearing has sharpened his sense of color and shape, the ability to notice the smallest details in multi-figure compositions.

Having comprehended the wisdom of painting, the 29-year-old young artist returned to his small provincial town of Kampen, where he remained to live and work until his death in 1634. In the last years of his life, the deaf-mute artist taught painting to his nephew Barent Averkamp, who later also became a painter of mainly winter urban and rural landscapes.

Averkamp Hendrik - the first realist of the Dutch school of painting

According to experts, in his early works the influence of the Flemish school, in particular, the landscape painter Giliss van Koninkloo, is very noticeable. The later period was marked by the inheritance of the manner and style of Pieter Bruegel the Elder. But at the same time, the artist was able to create his own signature style, which formed the basis for the formation of a realistic trend in Dutch art. By the way, until the beginning of the 17th century, the dominant Flemish school of painting at that time, realism was completely unusual. And it was Hendrik who was one of the first to bring the landscape painting of this school closer to realism.

Winter landscapes are the only theme of the painter's work

Hendrik Averkamp became famous for his love of portraying winter landscapes, everyday scenes in snow-covered coastal villages, entertainment of townspeople on ice-bound rivers. It was these rural winter landscapes that made the artist widely known throughout Holland, they were very popular both in the burgher environment and among ordinary townspeople. His work was in demand during his lifetime and brought in a solid income.

Why exactly the winter landscape attracted the Dutchman so much throughout his life? The artist's addiction can be explained by his childhood and youthful hobbies, when he and his parents skated on a frozen pond with his parents in cold winters. And to this it must be added that the last quarter of the 16th century, during which the Dutch painter was born and spent his childhood, was one of the coldest climatic periods in the history of not only the Netherlands, but also Western Europe. It was even called the "Little Ice Age" in historical sources.

It was then that all rivers and lakes froze deeply and for a long time, besides, the winters were extremely snowy. But people continued to live, work and, of course, have fun, adding ice skating and sledging, a game similar to modern hockey and many other entertainments to their everyday life, which can be seen by carefully peering into the picture plane of any of the artist's canvases. The artist did not just populate his landscapes with many characters, he laid a certain plot in each of his works. Curiously, the painter skillfully hid several funny stories and anecdotes in his paintings.

Painterly craftsmanship of the Dutch master

The artist created his paintings on small-sized boards, using oil paint. For reference, I would like to say that canvas, as the basis of painting, began to be used in the countries of Western Europe from the beginning of the 16th century. Florentine and Venetian painters were the first to appreciate the benefits of this material. Much later, the artists of the northern schools began to use the canvas.

Nevertheless, in his paintings on wood, Hendrik managed to achieve great skill, depicting the bluish-silver surface of ice-covered canals and rivers, a heavenly winter haze. Avercamp was able to subtly convey the depth of space using atmospheric perspective in the form of a light nebula created by moist frosty air. It was he who was the first among the Dutch artists in his work to apply the laws of atmospheric perspective, which made it possible to maximize the spatial panorama of the artist's small-sized paintings. And this is due to the change in the color of objects and images, depending on the proximity to the horizon line. In short, the artist wrote as he sees the human eye, that is, as realistic as possible.

Averkamp liked to paint the sky, almost always covered with clouds, overcast, usually occupying almost half of the whole picture. And, as a rule, there are always boats frozen in the water in the background, large and small vessels with tilted masts.

In the painting "Ice Skating" the artist acquaints the viewer with one of the remarkable aspects of Dutch life: the frozen winter canals become a place of favorite winter entertainments for the inhabitants of coastal villages. Here you can see ice skaters and sleds, chasing a ball with a club, carrying loads, fishing in an ice hole. Children and adults, smartly dressed ladies and gentlemen, ordinary people in modest clothes, it seems, all the locals came out onto the icy surface of the canal. A special place in the paintings is occupied by various buildings, towers, fortresses, and in some of them windmills.

Modest nature, dim in colors, the peculiar life of people - this is how Holland appears before us in the artist's paintings. Fortunately, many of the artist's works have survived to this day, but almost all of them repeat the same plot.

Of course, in some of the master's works one can feel an imitation of the famous artist of Flemish painting - Peter Bruegel the Elder, but the individuality of Averkamp's talent is undeniable, as you can see in more detail, consider in detail some of the artist's works.

Winter landscape with inhabitants rolling on ice and a bird trap. 1609

This is one of the Dutch master's famous plot works, which art critics consider to be a direct quote from Pieter Bruegel. By the way, the renowned master has a canvas with the same name: "Winter Landscape with Skaters and a Bird Trap", written in 1565.

Hendrik, like his famous predecessor, deliberately placed the horizon line quite high, which made it possible to depict as detailed as possible what was happening on the frozen canal. The subject-landscape composition is full of people, they skate, sled, even boats on the ice, carry straw and buckets, play something like hockey. Judging by the attire, residents of all classes and all ages went to the skating rink.

On the left side of the picture, the painter depicted a large building with the coat of arms of Antwerp on the facade, apparently this is a brewery and an inn. An ice-hole has been cut in the ice in front of the house, from which, with the help of a special device, buckets of water are taken out for brewing beer.

To the left we see a building, in the courtyard of which animals are walking and children are running. The house most likely belongs to fairly well-to-do peasants. But the bird trap, which is referred to in the title of the picture, built from the door with a stick supported, can be seen in the lower left corner of the picture.

And on the icy "road" into which the river has turned, life boils and goes on as usual. Here, in the foreground, artisans came up, looking out how best to get over the ice. Near the tree, a couple is talking animatedly, around which a cheerful dog is circling. Nearby are two men near the boat, they put on skates, and now they will join the ranks of carefree vacationers.

In the distance, in the middle and background, the artist draws ordinary residents of the city, they skate, play games with clubs, slide and fall, communicate and get to know each other. Each figurine creates its own plot, which can be mentally "completed".

Ice skating, 1610-1615

The frozen river near the walls of Kampen was filled with numerous skaters, ice fishing enthusiasts, peasants with sledges. The figures are united by everyday worries: a gentleman straightens a lady's skate, a curious boy is standing next to him, a little further away they are playing a ball on the ice, an old woman is being carried on a sled, a dog is walking. There is also a law enforcement officer with a gun.

Ice city, 1600-1610

Against the background of the frosty sky and snow-covered expanses, trees and houses are very clearly and vividly traced, the contours of the towers and walls of the city, wooden buildings, a stone bridge, a windmill, boats frozen into the ice until spring are visible in the distance.

Agree, the filigree works of the Dutch master can be looked at for hours, each time finding new details, details and, of course, new characters in them.

This is how kind, full of peace and life, appear before us the works of the famous "dumb from Kampen" - Hendrik Averkamp - a recognized master of realistic urban landscape. You are fascinated by his paintings, despite the lack of brightness in the color scheme and the repetition of the plot. But they are childlike and cheerful.

Sometimes it happens that artists take in their hands not only a brush and paints, but also tools that are completely inappropriate for the work. Why the impressionist Igor Grabar dug a trench in the forest, it becomes clear when you find out the secret of the painting "February Azure".