The Skaters Before the Gate of St. George at Antwerp

Artist Frans Huys (after Pieter Brueghel the Elder, ca. 1525-1569) (Flemish, ca. 1522-before 1562)

Date1553

DimensionsImage: 8 1/2 x 11 3/4 in. (21.5 x 29.8 cm);
Plate: 9 1/8 x 11 13/16 in. (23.1 x29.9 cm);
Sheet: 9 7/8 x 12 1/2 in. (25.1 x 31.7 cm)

MediumEngraving

ClassificationPrints

Credit LineWilliam J. Hitchcock Fund in Memory of Grace J. Hitchcock

Object number

1987.74

Not on View

Label TextA skater takes a nasty fall to the raucous amusement of some spectators behind a tree; another skater frantically tries to keep his balance; another, in the distance, has fallen through the ice. Engraved after a design by Pieter Bruegel, who was known as “Peter-the-Droll,” this image contains a hint of moralizing about humankind “skating on thin ice.” This message was made explicit by the publisher in the second edition of the print, when he added a title (“The Slipperiness of Human Life”) and a poem: See how they skate on the ice in Antwerp, outside the city One this way, the other that, watched from every side. One stumbles, another falls, that one stands proud and tall. Oh learn from this scene how we pass through the world, Slithering as we go, one foolish, the other wise On this impermanence, far brittler than ice.Exhibition HistoryToledo Museum of Art, Above Water: Bridges from the Collection, July 20-Oct. 21, 2007.

Toledo Museum of Art, Satire Show, Mar. 17-Jun. 25, 2006.

Toledo Museum of Art, Fun & Games: The Pursuit of Leisure, Jun. 27-Sept. 21, 2014.