The painting is based on a sculpture called "Winter" attributed to Pierre Le Gros the Elder at the Louvre Museum.
The cool greys of the painting reinforce the mood of winter which the sculptural form itself conveys so well. I exaggerated the curve of the archway in the background so that it echoed the shape of the figure and deepened the values in the arch so it becomes Winter's "shadow" in the composition.
The original sculpture was probably created for the gardens at Versailles so like a garden gnome it is a garden ornament, but a garden ornament on a grand, Baroque scale.
Winter is followed by spring.
(I thought about this painting when I was painting the Gnome Study last week and I think it relates to the other gnome paintings as well which is why I decided to show it here.
I did this painting as a study last year and have worked on it from time to time since then.)