Thomas Birch moved from England to the Philadelphia area in 1794. He learned to paint from his father, William Russell Birch. The younger Birch became well known for a variety of subjects, including seascapes; views of country estates, harbors, and rivers; and naval battle scenes from the War of 1812.
Although he had exhibited a few "winter pieces" from 1811 to 1813 at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, in the 1830s Birch made winter landscapes one of his specialties. These scenes were based on seventeenth-century Dutch paintings that he had studied in his father's art collection. In "Skating," leafless trees are silhouetted against a gray winter sky that occupies half the canvas, a typical feature of Dutch landscapes. A horse-drawn sleigh full of warmly dressed travelers crosses a bridge near a group of farm houses. The most animated figures are the ice skaters. One stoops to put on his skates, while others beckon to the young skater on the bank of the frozen stream. It is interesting that all Birch's skaters are boys. Although skating was considered an appropriate and healthful outdoor activity, for a long time it was a sport restricted to boys, and it was not until the 1850s that girls were commonly seen on the ice.

This text was adapted from Carol Troyen and Janet Comey, "Children in American Art" (Nagoya/Boston Museum of Fine Arts, 2007, in Japanese).

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