Abraham van Calraet, Scene on the Ice outside Dordrecht

Against a grey sky threatening snow, the people of Dordrecht are out on the ice. In the foreground, a man with a barrel organ chats to a woman. The sharp pink of her jacket is echoed on the saddle cloth of one of the horses on the left, the vivid colour enlivening the muted browns and greys of the rest of the picture. At her feet, a man propels himself across the frozen river on a strange contraption.

Elsewhere people push sledges, ride in horse-drawn sleighs, carry fishing poles or simply skate, perhaps enjoying the speed compared with rowing a boat on the river. All this activity is watched by the two patient horses on the left, with the last of the dying light catching the coat of the grey.

The view is taken from the north across the river Maas. In the background on the left is the Groothoofdspoort, a watergate which still survives although it was altered in the late seventeenth century. To its right is the Grote Kerk (Great Church) which is largely unchanged today. The painting perhaps derives from a view of Dordrecht in the background of a work by Aelbert Cuyp (National Trust Collection, Ascott, Buckinghamshire) which was probably painted in the 1650s. Although the costumes in the picture are of the 1660s, the picture may have been painted later.