Winter landscapes have been a feature of art for hundreds of long time — and while many focus on landscape alone , there are also some that allude to the historic circumstance of their time , or depict events from the more distant past . Here is a chronological look at nine winter painting that hint at , or were inspired by , genuine historic events .
Hunters in the Snow// Pieter Bruegel
Pieter Bruegel ’s 1565 paintingJagers in de Sneeuw(Hunters in the Snow ) is also sleep with by the alternative title ofWinter — fitting for one of the most notable wintertime landscape painting in westerly art . What ’s also notable is that itdepictsthe effects of the Little Ice Age , a historical period from the14th to the former 19th centuriesthat saw a serial of super cold-blooded winter in Europe . Bruegel ’s picture is adjust in the middle of this period and point how this inhuman era in European history pretend on the people live in it , in fashion both positive and negative . In the background we can see people love themselves skating on the ice , but in the foreground are a chemical group of Hunter having devolve with what looks like a meager catch from their quest through the snow .
Thames Frost Fair// Thomas Wyke
England also felt the effects of the Little Ice Age — and one pleasurable moment of the halt that became a part of London life werefrost fairs , which took place on the Thames during winters when it was cold enough for the river to freeze out over . Dutch painter Thomas Wyke captured a frost fair that took place during theexceptionally coldwinter of 1683 inThames Frost Fair(1684 ) . It shows people mark up tents and carrell on the frozen river , and a sawhorse is pulling a cart across the ice ; in the length is a bridgework over the then - icy waters . harmonise to account Today , “ It was this Fair … that set the rule for the five that follow it . ” The Thames would freeze over for the last time in 1814 .
Snow Storm: Hannibal and his Army Crossing the Alps// J. M. W. Turner
British artist Joseph Mallord William Turner painted contemporary scenes as well as historical and mythical events , and his 1812 paintingSnow tempest : Hannibal and his Army Crossing the Alpsalludes to a literal historic figure . Hannibal ( 247 BCE–182 BCE ) was a general of Carthage who guide his army to multiple victories against the Romans . This picture shows afamous episodewhere he and his troops crossed the Alps on the fashion to Spain , taking 37 elephants along the way as he traveled through the C. P. Snow . Turner prove just one of the animals in the lower right street corner of the painting ; somebelievethe figure on the elephant is Hannibal himself .
The Sea of Ice// Caspar David Friedrich
German puma Caspar David Friedrich was intrigue by image of human race drown by nature , as meet in his painting of multitude contemplate vast landscapes ( likeWanderer Above a Sea of Fog ) , and plants acquire over the ruin of buildings ( The Abbey in the Oakwood ) . This is also express in his 1823–24 paintingDas Eismeer(The Sea of Ice , and also known asThe Polar Sea ) , which shows the wreck of a ship in fragmented ocean ice . It ’s believed that Friedrich wasinspired byexplorer William Edward Parry ’s Arctic expedition from 1819–20 and his hunting for the Northwest Passage . The house painting can be seen as an allusion to this historical installment , despite its portrayal of a much bleaker outcome to a voyage through frosty seas ( Parry and his shipsmade it home ) .
The North(later known asThe Icebergs) // Frederic Edwin Church
This house painting alludes to history — though not in the path that you might believe . American creative person Frederic Edwin Church was inspired to make it after avoyageto the Arctic ( which was itselfinspiredby geographic expedition of the region taking place at that time ) . Henamed itThe North(1861 ) as an allusion to the states in the northern U.S. , which delay together following the secession of other states during the American Civil War . Churchdebutedthe house painting just days after the scrap begin . He later bring the broken mast in the foreground and changed the championship to the more literal alternative ofThe Icebergs , which is what the painting is most commonly roll in the hay by today .
Skaters in the Bois de Boulogne// Pierre-Auguste Renoir (1868)
The 1868 paintingLes patineurs à Longchamp(Skaters in the Bois de Boulogne)by Impressionist painter Pierre - Auguste Renoir not only register a social wintry conniption , but also reflects a major expression of the history of Paris in the 19th C . In the 1850s , at thedirectionof Napoleon III , Georges - Eugène Haussmann began renovation on the urban center that drastically changed much of its landscape painting . One of the areas that was redesigned and revitalise was the Bois du Boulogne . The common did not live in this descriptor until the decennium before Renoir ’s art was paint , and the image captures the sentience that the ballpark became what a paper release inThe Journal of Western Society for French Historycalls“a societal and ethnical introduction ” and “ the epicenter of Parisian society ” in the late 19th century .
Effect of Snow at Petit-Montrouge // Édouard Manet
Some winter landscapes might , at first glance , seem like innocuous snowfall scenes — but they become out to be connected to more sobering events . Manet ’s 1870 paintingEffet de neige à Petit - Montrouge ( issue of Snow on Petit - Montrouge)is one such painting . It depicts the nominal Parisian suburbia of Petit - Montrouge during what was actually a huge moment of crisis for France : the siege of Paris during the Franco - Prussian War . Manet do in the conflict , and the experienceprovidedinspiration for later pieces of graphics as well .
The Underground Railroad// Charles T. Webber
This 1893 painting by Charles T. Webber show a scene of people traveling in wintertime with the aid of the Underground Railroad , the meshing that helped enslave people get away their captors in 19th century America . Webber , a Cincinnati occupant , paint it as atributeto the railroad track “ conductors ” he had met in the metropolis ( some of them even appear in the painting ) . It has become an iconic prototype that is oftenusedto illustrate diachronic article about the subject of the railway . The picture was first exhibit at the Chicago World ’s Fair in 1893 and now belongs to the Cincinnati Art Museum .
Over the Top// John Nash
This sombre painting show an event from the First World War — one in which the creative person himself was involve . John Nash’sOver the Top(1918 ) depicts a counterattack at Welsh Ridge that took place on December 30 , 1917 . Sixty - eight soldiers werekilled ; Nash was one of just 12 survivor . He paint it three months later and it continues to be his most famous employment to this Clarence Shepard Day Jr. .
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