Watercolor, pen and black ink, brown ink, gray ink, and graphite on moderately thick, slightly textured, cream wove paper
Dimensions:
Sheet: 9 15/16 × 13 15/16 inches (25.2 × 35.4 cm)
Credit Line:
Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection
Copyright Status:
Public Domain
Accession Number:
B2001.2.941
Gallery Label:
England was subjected to unusually cold temperatures in the eighteenth century as Europe found itself in the grip of a “mini–ice age.” Freezing rivers and lakes allowed the English to try the sport of ice skating, and Ibbetson produced a series of skating scenes in 1785. Working in the comic manner of Thomas Rowlandson, Ibbetson exploited the humorous potential of polite society taking to the ice on the Serpentine, an artificial lake near London’s Kensington Palace. Gallery label for Great British Watercolors from the Paul Mellon Collection at the Yale Center for British Art (Yale Center for British Art, 2008-06-09 - 2008-08-17)
