Monday, December 24, 2018

'Christmas Eve' by Fritz von Uhde

Fritz von Uhde (German, 1848-1911) painted "Christmas Eve: Winter Landscape" in 1890. 



Mary leans against a farm fence on a winter night. A delicate halo floats above her head. Joseph has left her alone for the moment as he heads through the snow to find a place to stay.



The painting appears online in a couple different versions. This one appears grayer and softer.

Fritz von Uhde combined his practice of plein-air painting with his devotion to spiritual subjects. He said, "Many of the French artists wished to find the light in Nature. I wished to find the light within the figure that I was presenting."
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Fritz von Uhde on Wikipedia

5 comments:

  1. Love the "blue" version. Great example of a small area of visual interest (the figure in the upper left) counterbalancing the whole composition.

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  2. Both are nice, but the Blue Version seems to guide my eye through the narrative presented. Mary's glow included.

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  3. Merry Christmas James & all Gurney Journey readers!

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  4. Merry Christmas and thank you for all these interesting and illuminating blog items over the year.

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  5. The grayer, softer version is a different painting. Is it the same artist (maybe a preliminary painting)?

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