Christmas Night (Die Christnacht)
1854 · Wood engraving (published by the Sächsischer Kunstverein, Dresden) · Library of Congress, Washington, DC
The whole print, uncropped, on a printed cream mat with its title beneath.
Museum-quality archival paper: heavyweight, acid-free, resists yellowing
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This print
About this work
- Artist
- Ludwig Richter (1803–1884)
- Year
- 1854
- Medium
- Wood engraving (published by the Sächsischer Kunstverein, Dresden)
- Collection
- Library of Congress, Washington, DC
- Movement
- Romanticism
Angels carry a tall Christmas tree lit with candles and topped with a star through a night sky. Below them, a crowd of small cherubs on a cloud gather round the Christ Child, offering baskets of fruit and toys, and one dives head first towards the roofs below. Underneath lies a sleeping German town with a church tower, steep gables and lit windows, and a cloaked figure stands on a stair at the right. An ornamental border of vines, shields and stars surrounds the whole picture. The wood engraving is after a design by Ludwig Richter, the Dresden illustrator known for scenes of German home life. The Saxon Art Union published it as its gift print to members for the year 1854, as the line at the foot of the sheet records. This impression is in the Library of Congress.
This print reproduces the whole work, uncropped, from a high-resolution scan of the original. The original is in the public domain.
Where it works
Angels and a candlelit tree over a sleeping town, in black and grey on a cream sheet. Hang it over a mantel, in an entryway or a study for the holiday season beside Fra Angelico's The Madonna of Humility, in a black frame.
Size, framing & materials
- Style
- Romanticism painting
- Era
- 19th century (1854)
- Orientation
- Portrait
- Mood
- grand
- Rooms
- hallway or entryway, study or library, living room, dining room
- Good gift for
- housewarming, art lovers
Size. Prints at 12×18, 16×24, 24×36 in — 12×18 for a shelf, desk or a gallery-wall grid; 16×24 above a desk, console or in a hallway; 24×36 as the statement piece above a sofa or bed. See it to scale on your wall →
Framing. The gallery ground is part of the print, so frame it without a mat — black suits the deep tones of this period; dark wood warms it.
Pairing. Pairs as a set of three with other famous painting prints (10% off three or more).
- Restored in-house from a scan of the original print, cleaned and colour-trued at museum resolution
- Museum-quality archival paper: heavyweight, acid-free, resists yellowing
- Framed option: wood frame in black or dark wood, 12 mm wide and 22 mm deep, with a plexiglass front and no mat; the print is mounted inside and the frame's outside measures the listed size
- Made to order; colours may vary slightly from screen
