Erasmus de Bie

Erasmus de Bie (1629–1675) was a Flemish Baroque painter known for his city views and genre scenes.

The Scheld is frozen solid and several tents and pavilions selling all kinds of food have been constructed on the ice.

Several inhabitants of Antwerp are seen playing on the icy river, enjoying banquets and engaging in other amusements during the winter of 1670.

The artist depicts various amusing scenes such as a woman on the verge of falling out of a sleigh pulled by a horse, a man defecating on the ice who is being chased away and a couple of men engaged in a brawl.

[12] Erasmus de Bie was an accomplished painter of figures and often collaborated with other artists in Antwerp for whom he painted the staffage.

This is documented in the papers of the Antwerp art dealers Forchondt, which mention two anonymous church interiors with figures painted by de Bie.

[1] He may have produced Italianate landscapes set among Roman buildings and populated with many figures and animals reminiscent of the style of the group of genre painters active in Rome known as the Bamboccianti.