In Hendrick Avercamp’s Winter Scene on a Frozen Canal, painted around 1620, Dutch life plays out on a giant sheet of ice.
Couples skate while holding hands, mothers push their children in tiny sleighs, and groups of friends and neighbors cluster together to chat—all wearing their ice skates, of course. The scene looks idyllic, but it reflects a darker (or more accurately, colder) reality the Dutch had been coping with for hundreds of years.
Not to be confused with the Ice Age during the Pleistocene Epoch more than 10,000 years ago, the “Little Ice Age,” as it’s become known, describes a decline in temperature from around the 14th or 15th centuries to the mid-19th century. In the Netherlands, that meant periods of longer, harsher winters, which is why many Dutch paintings from those years depict wintry scenes like the one above.
The new Getty exhibition On Thin Ice: Dutch Depictions of Extreme Weather explores artists’ interpretation of those chilly years—which, curiously enough, aligned with the “golden age” of the Dutch Republic. While the weather may have been freezing, you could say it was an advantageous time to be Dutch.
What was the Little Ice Age?
During the Little Ice Age, the climate cooled around a few tenths of a degree Celsius. This may not sound like much, but it still resulted in colder, harsher winters, particularly in the Northern Hemisphere. The Little Ice Age wasn’t a monolithic event; cold temperatures hit different parts of the world at different times. Weather alternated between cold spells, droughts, heavy rain, and unusually warm summers—some of which we’re also experiencing now from human-caused global warming (but more on that later).
Scientists have several theories about what factors could have caused the Little Ice Age, including increased volcanic activity, changing ocean currents and wind patterns, and cyclical changes in the Earth’s orbit. While scientists don’t agree yet on what kicked off the Little Ice Age, one thing is clear: the Dutch approached the colder weather with creativity that actually helped them thrive.
The Dutch "golden age" in a time of ice
The Dutch adapted to the difficult weather conditions of the Little Ice Age in several key ways. Dutch navigators took advantage of sea conditions to explore the Arctic region, which created new commercial opportunities like whaling. Favorable winds made it easier and quicker to travel to the East Indies trading ports (the Dutch were active traders, including the slave trade, during this time). And since the Dutch economy was based on trade and commerce rather than agriculture, difficult farming conditions were less of an issue than they were for other nearby countries.
During this time, the Dutch also “reclaimed” hundreds of thousands of miles of land that had been overtaken by the sea, using a system of levees, canals, and windmills to increase the size of their country by 53 percent. As the Dutch saying goes, “God created the world, but the Dutch created Holland.”
“Not only did the Dutch create half of their land, but they also connected people and goods of the seven provinces building over 400 miles of waterways,” says Stephanie Schrader, curator of drawings at the Getty Museum and the curator for On Thin Ice. “Bitter cold temperatures froze canals, rivers, and seaports, which required new ways to transport people and products.”
Art of the Little Ice Age—and its parallels to LA today
The drawings and paintings featured in Getty’s exhibition bring the Dutch response to the Little Ice Age into lively, colorful focus. Avercamp was one of the most prolific artists of the Little Ice Age and specialized in depicting landscapes and life during those cold months. In his works, Dutch ingenuity in the face of long, freezing winters becomes clear: people skate across frozen canals, play a hockey-like game called kolf, and fish using nets off the Netherlands’ extensive coastline.
“These compelling details made winter landscapes all the more desirable for Dutch citizens to purchase and hang in their homes,” Schrader says.
The struggles, lessons, and triumphs of the Little Ice Age aren’t confined to the past. Schrader points out that Dutch depictions of extreme weather serve as important reminders this summer in Southern California, as we're faced with threats of droughts and wildfires. Perhaps, when you visit the exhibition, you’ll notice similarities between the Little Ice Age and our current climate change—how, for example, Dutch solutions to their transportation challenges are echoed in Los Angeles’s attempts to grow our own public transportation system to reduce our carbon footprint and connect our sprawling city.
“Like Dutch landscapes remind us, the road to progress is a slippery one and full of obstacles; but for us to move forward and remain productive, we must adapt,” Schrader says. “Even when we flail and fall like the ice skater in an illustrated book from 1669, we too must have the courage not to give up.”
Visit On Thin Ice: Dutch Depictions of Extreme Weather at the Getty Center through September 1, 2024.
