Ice Skaters

The painting shows a lively winter scene on a frozen waterway, with groups of skaters and children on the ice and a dog in the foreground, while distant figures and boats appear along the shore. On the right, a row of brick buildings with gabled roofs forms a strong urban edge, creating depth as the town recedes into the background. The palette mixes warm ochres, browns, and reds for the figures and architecture with cool blues and grays for the sky and ice, and the broad, pale sky dominates the upper portion, giving the scene a soft, atmospheric light typical of van Ostade's Dutch 17th-century genre style.