De fire årstider. Vinter 1654 - 1660

Curator: This etching, titled "Winter" and part of "The Four Seasons," was created by Jan van Ossenbeeck between 1654 and 1660, during the Dutch Golden Age. The delicate linework reveals a detailed winter scene filled with small, captivating figures. It's currently held in the collection of the SMK, the National Gallery of Denmark. Editor: Brrr, just looking at it, I feel a chill! It's bleak, yet there’s a strange cosiness too, wouldn't you agree? That huddle of people around the fire, the bundled firewood—a kind of stoic survival. Curator: Precisely. Ossenbeeck's composition reflects the harsh realities of 17th-century rural life during winter. The central group finding warmth suggests community, a theme recurrent in depictions of the seasons during that era. Survival depended heavily on collective efforts, and artists portrayed the reality of agrarian existence in all its brutality and necessity. Editor: It’s fascinating how he captures so much detail with etching. It gives it an almost dreamlike, flickering quality, don’t you think? That ramshackle shelter and all those crows perched above, are those omens? The figures going about their daily lives unaware of any greater sense of forboding, I think he got it right! Curator: That "dreamlike quality" likely stems from the printmaking technique, and printmaking facilitated broader circulation of imagery. What this imagery told people of this era was that in "Winter," particularly, was an assertion of order, of the domestic structure in society continuing despite external challenges, with a nod to popular mythological imagery of a time outside man's control.. It underscores the period's broader concern with moral fortitude amid hardship, as the community collectively fights the ravages of this season together. Editor: Well, thinking of those deeper ideas helps, but if you really asked me to describe it, without all that, I would still come back to how that dark atmosphere makes you contemplate nature and, frankly, how awesome she is. In many ways that speaks directly to our moment, I think! Curator: An interesting point; looking at Ossenbeeck's work now reminds us of cycles, continuity and change across social boundaries as well as physical, perhaps inviting a look inward to seek what carries us season after season.