1866
oil
canvas
From the collection of Hermitage Museum
Winter Landscape is a 1866 oil by Jan Jacob Spohler, a Barbizon school work, held at Hermitage Museum.
This painting shows a quiet winter scene by a frozen river. People walk on the ice, some pulling sleds, while others tend to animals. In the background, bare trees line the shore, and a few boats sit empty on the water. A windmill and small houses peek through the misty, pale sky. The artist used soft brushstrokes to blur the distance, making the scene feel cold and still. The light is gentle, washing everything in muted tones. Next, check out the technique: chiaroscuro to see how light and shadow create mood.
Jan Jacob Spohler’s *Winter Landscape*, executed in oil in 1866, belongs to the landscape tradition of the mid‑19th century. The work was completed the year the Dutch painter died and is now part of the State Hermitage Museum’s collection.
The canvas depicts a tranquil frozen riverbank where figures traverse the ice, some pulling sleds and others attending to livestock. Sparse, leaf‑less trees line the shore, empty boats rest on the water, and a windmill and modest dwellings emerge through a muted, mist‑filled sky, conveying a quiet, communal winter scene.
Spohler employs soft, blended brushwork that dissolves distant forms, enhancing the sense of cold stillness. A restrained palette of muted tones is illuminated by gentle light, while subtle chiaroscuro models the figures and architecture, creating depth and a subdued atmospheric mood.
Created in the final year of Spohler’s life, the painting entered the State Hermitage Museum’s holdings at an unspecified date, where it remains on display as a representative example of his late work and of the broader Barbizon‑influenced Dutch landscape tradition.
Read the full account in the museum source.
Jan Jacob Spöhler (November 7, 1811 in Nederhorst den Berg –June 5, 1866 in Amsterdam), was a 19th-century painter from the Northern Netherlands.
See the richer artist page
A Frozen Canal near the River Maas
A Frozen Canal near the River Maas
Winter Scene
Winter Scene on the Ice with Wood Gatherers
Skating in Holland
Winter Landscape, Holland
Winter Scene
Winter landscape with houses
Pleasures on the Ice
On the frozen canal
En vinterdag ved Elben
En vinterdag ved Elben
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