The Old Game

Winter Landscape with Ice Skaters (Colf on the Ice)

The Dutch on the ice, colf clubs in hand, four centuries before the word “golf” settled down.

Frozen Waterway with Villagers Playing Kolf

The kolf swing on the frozen river, the old game at the golden hour.

The Golf-Player

Rembrandt etched a kolf player in 1654 — the greatest hand in Dutch art, on the old game.

Sports on a Frozen River

Van der Neer’s winter river, kolf among the skaters — the game inside the weather.

Ice Skaters on the Amstel at Amsterdam

The oldest sheet in the house — 1589, the ice already full of the game.

Kolfspeler (The Kolf Player)

A single player, club grounded, from the Rijksmuseum’s print room.

Het Kolfspel (The Game of Kolf)

The game named on its own plate, 1654 — the ancestor with a title.

Skaters and Kolfers on the Ice

Avercamp’s own drawing, titled for the kolfers — the game named by the painter.

A Scene on the Ice near a Town

The National Gallery’s Avercamp — the winter panorama at full wall scale.

IJsvermaak (Winter Amusement)

The nephew carrying on the family trade — the second Avercamp in the house.

Winter on the Vijverberg, The Hague

A prince on the ice in 1618 — the winter game with the court in attendance.

A Girl with a Kolf Club and Her Mother

The game indoors, in a child’s hands, before it belonged to clubs.

Boy Playing Golf

Ter Borch drew a boy at the game around 1615 — a named master, on a child.

Portrait of a Boy with a Kolf Club

1631: a child painted in oils holding the game like an inheritance.

Kolven op het IJs (Kolf on the Ice)

The game named as itself, on the ice, at wall scale.

Winter Landscape near a Town with Kolf Players

Van der Neer at full size at last — the winter light the house was named for.