![Isack van Ostade - Ice Scene [c.1640-42]](http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7582/16067050469_ac592a5d29_o.jpg)
Isack van Ostade (baptised Haarlem, June 12, 1621 - buried Haarlem, October 16, 1649] was a Dutch genre and landscape painter. He displays his best qualities in winter scenes. The absence of foliage, the crisp atmosphere and the calm air of cold January days, unsullied by smoke or vapour, preclude the use of the brown tinge, and leave the painter no choice but to ring the changes with a great variety of opal tints. Then the figures emerge with masterly effect on the light background.
[Mauritshuis, The Hague - Oil on panel, 34 x 49 cm]