Antique Print-MARTIN LUTHER-CHRISTMAS TREE-Bannister-Schwerdgeburth-1856

Subject: Plate : 'Luther amidst his family at Wittenberg, on Christmas eve, 1536.'

Condition: Good. General age-related toning. Light staining. Please study scan carefully.

Medium: Steel engraving on a verge type of hand laid paper.

Size (in cm): The overall size is ca. 26 x 15.5 cm. The image size is ca. 17 x 13.5 cm.

Size (in inch): The overall size is ca. 10.2 x 6.1 inch. The image size is ca. 6.7 x 5.3 inch.

Part Number: 38439

Location: C248-06

Description: This old antique print originates from 'Sartain's Magazine' published ca. 1860. It is based on a steel engraving cycle over the life of Martin Luther by Schwerdgeburth. The cycle includes an engraving of Martin Luther, Luther shows in his living room in Wittenberg with his family under a Christmas tree. This image from 1856 was the source of the legend that Luther was the inventor of the Christmas tree.

Artists and Engravers: This plate by J. Bannister after Schwerdgeburth. Carl August Schwerdgeburth (German 1785-1876) was an engraver and painter. He was court engraver to Prince of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach, and father of the painter Otto Schwerdgeburth.