Profoundly deaf, and unable to speak, Hendrick Averkamp was known as the “mute of Kampen.” He specialized in finely detailed winter scenes, filled with movement and sprinkled with a lot of very tiny figures. Although he painted cold, snowy scenes, his palette of colors are warm, such as brown and pink.
The buildings in A Winter Scene with Skaters near a Castle are painted from his imagination, but the skaters and toboganners are based on watercolor drawings made from life.
Returning to his studio, Averkamp would use his sketches to create carefully composed paintings, grouping the figures, holding hands and dancing, to make patterns within the picture. In this scene, the viewer can see that because of the freezing weather, all work (fishing, farming, and brewing, for example) has stopped and everyone, rich and poor alike, is out on the ice having fun.