ATTRIBUTED TO GERRIT ADRIAENSZ. BERCKHEYDE
An Allegory of Winter: Head of an Old Man Wearing a Fur Cap
red chalk on beige paper
4 ½ x 3 ½ inches (127 x 97 mm.)
PROVENANCE
Bob P. Haboldt & Co., by 1990 from whom acquired by
Private Collection, Washington, D.C., January 1990, until the present time
Winter is often personified by an old man. In this drawing his splendid fur cap emblemizes the frigidity of the season. Such personifications foretell the end of the seasonal cycle and serve as the harbinger of renewal.