It is by Dutch painter Pieter de Molijn (1595-1661), who was among the artists of the 1620s pioneering ‘tonal’ landscapes that made use of a palette of soft greens, browns and slate greys to evoke the atmosphere of Haarlem.
De Molijn painted relatively few winter pictures compared with his Dutch peers. This scene, c.1650, is a glimpse of daily life during the ‘Little Ice Age’, when the Dutch travelled over the frozen waterways by ice skates or horse-drawn sleighs.
The oil on panel measures 15in x 2ft (38 x 60cm) and is offered framed for £200,000.
The show, which runs at the New Bond Street gallery until August 20, features a selection of such 17th century Dutch cabinet paintings by various artists. These works were generally small, complex and highly finished, completed on wood panel (such as this example) or copper. They were made to hang in the Dutch townhouses or the smaller rooms of Flemish country houses.
The cabinet paintings on offer at Richard Green include still-lifes, seascapes, country landscapes and several other winter city scenes.
