Skating Scene
The painting depicts a wintry scene from an elevated point of view, showing people skating and playing games on a frozen river. On the left, leafless trees line the frozen bank. On the right, there are brown buildings with snow on their roofs and smoke rising from their chimneys. A woman stands on one of the porches, holding a small child. On the snowy ground outside the buildings, a sled is being pulled by two horses. In the center of the painting is the wide frozen river. The people on it wear colorful clothes in shades of red, yellow, green, blue, and brown. Some of them slip and fall on the ice, and others lace skates on their feet. Four men in the center hold long curved sticks and look towards a small round ball on the surface of the ice. In the distance, the horizon is marked by blue-tinged mountains under a cloudy gray sky.
Colors in this work
Details
- Artist
- John Toole
- Date
- c. 1835
- Medium
- oil on canvas
- Dimensions
- overall: 36.9 x 46.2 cm (14 1/2 x 18 3/16 in.) framed: 43.2 x 52.7 x 4.6 cm (17 x 20 3/4 x 1 13/16 in.)
- Department
- CAB
- Holding institution
- National Gallery of Art
- Palette
-
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- Image provider
- national-gallery-of-art
- License
- CC0-1.0
- Credit
- Gift of Edgar William and Bernice Chrysler Garbisch
Art Genome Taxonomy
9 tags
Subject Matter
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Landscapes Both · 99%
The image presents a broad natural setting with a frozen river, snowy ground, leafless trees, and distant mountains; the catalog describes it as a wintry scene viewed from an elevated point.
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Sports/Athletics Both · 99%
Numerous figures are visibly skating and playing with long curved sticks and a ball on the ice; the catalog explicitly describes skating and games on the frozen river.
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Scenes of Everyday Life Both · 95%
The work depicts ordinary recreation and daily activities, including skating, preparing skates, domestic figures on a porch, and travel by horse-drawn sled.
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Rural Life Both · 93%
Snow-covered homes, fences, a church, fields, and a horse-drawn sled establish a settled rural environment.
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Waterscapes Both · 95%
The frozen river occupies the central and foreground areas and functions as the primary setting for the depicted activity.
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The Seasons Both · 99%
Snow, frozen water, leafless trees, and winter clothing clearly establish a winter season.
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Movement Visual · 98%
The skaters are shown in varied active poses, including gliding, falling, bending, and swinging sticks, producing a pronounced sense of motion.
Medium and Techniques
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Oil Painting Metadata · 99%
The National Gallery of Art classifies the work as a painting in oil on canvas.
Time Periods
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19th Century Art Metadata · 99%
The work is dated circa 1835, placing it in the nineteenth century.
Source & rights
John Toole. Skating Scene. Courtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington.
High-resolution sources
- IIIF image service ↗ 9,595 × 7,621 · National Gallery Of Art · Available