Winter Wonderlands

Hello everyone

With Christmas just round the corner and with folks (hopefully) winding down, I thought it would be nice to look at some popular festive and winter scenes.

We have to begin with this:

I adore 'The Hunters in the Snow' by Pieter Bruegel.
Probably less well know, but arguably just as beautiful is:

'Evening Snow on Fuji' by Utagawa Toyokuni.
There are so many lovey winter paintings from Japan.

 










'Winter landscape with skaters' by Hendrick Avercamp.
Being mute Avercamp lived in a silent world of his own. It is said that he enjoyed painting these winter scenes with skaters as it reminded him of happy times with his parents.
Extra turkey for anyone who can spot the bare bottom!

'Train in the Snow' by Claude Monet.
Monet strikes again:

'Grainstacks, Snow Effect'. Just one painting from the twenty five series in which Monet observed the changes in the haystacks from summer to the following spring.

'Avenue in the Snow' by Edvard Munch.
I much prefer this painting to his most famous creation, 'The Scream'.....controversial!!

It just wouldn't be right not to include 'The Reverend Robert Walker Skating on Duddingston Loch' by Sir Henry Raeburn.
Kept here in Edinburgh in The National Gallery of Scotland, this is one of Scotland's most famous paintings and is considered ground breaking for combining traditional portraiture with movement of the figure.
Leaving you with a slightly more obscure masterpiece:

There's something not quite right about Boticelli's shell here!

Wishing you all a warm and happy Christmas and for a sparkling 2014 
x x