Kolf on the Haarlemmermeer – after Adriaen van de Velde, ca. 1770

“L’Amusemens De L’Hiver”, copper engraving by Jacques Aliamet (1726 – 1788) after a painting by Adriaen van de Velde. Published…

“L’Amusemens De L’Hiver”, copper engraving by Jacques Aliamet (1726 – 1788) after a painting by Adriaen van de Velde. Published in Paris around 1770. Coloured by a later hand. Size (scene) approx. 31.5 x 36.5 cm.

Winter scenes with a thick layer of snow and frozen canals and rivers full of joy on the ice have always been popular. The old masters liked painting them, and their popularity is reflected in the large number of prints made after their paintings and drawings. Even in the 19th century, engravers looked back to examples from the past, in France, Germany, and England.

We see a group of men playing kolf on the Haarlemmermeer, a sport played in the Low Countries since the Middle Ages. In the 17th and 18th centuries, kolf gained popularity. The game was usually played in everyday shoes in the midst of the other people on the ice. Sometimes a kolf stick with a weighted and widened lower end was used, no longer than our current golf clubs. Other times, players wore skates, and the stick reached chest height, with the upper end covered with velvet or other material.

Sometimes the goal was to hit the ball as far as possible or to strike a pole. The score was kept on the inside of the hat or carved with a knife on a twig. The ball was made of leather and filled with feathers.

In the distance, the Grote Kerk or St.-Bavo church towers above the city of Haarlem.

Price: Euro 1.750,- (incl. frame)