*This painting is sold but the artist is regularly available in our inventory		Johann Christian Vollerdt* Leipzig 1703 - 1769 Dresden A Winter Landscape with Skaters Oil on panel 9 x 11 1/2 inches (22.9 x 29.2 cm) Signed lower left: Vollerdt. pinx   Provenance:   Private Collection, United Kingdom   Like his teacher in Dresden, Johann Alexander Thiele, Vollerdt found his orientation in seventeenth century Dutch landscape paintings.   His contemporaries, Christian Georg Schutz, who celebrated great success in Frankfurt, and Jan Griffier from The Netherlands, certainly inspired Vollerdt to depict scenes along rivers in all seasons.   As did his Dutch seventeenth century predecessors, Vollerdt well understood how to animate his landscapes with spirit and charm; he was a highly esteemed artist during his lifetime.   Our snowy winter landscape is indeed reminiscent of Vollerdt's seventeenth century Dutch predecessors including Jan van Goyen and Hendrick Averkamp, especially by the manner in which the ice skaters traverse across the frozen pond. The villagers at the right foreground are engaged in conversation and perhaps collect freshly grown produce. At the left side of the composition, a horse-drawn carriage travels down a path, which winds up to a picturesque castle and tower. The sky is dramatically lit with pinks and oranges at the left and blues with puffy clouds and the right side.