Swiss, 1838
A Basel Christmas (The Christ Child and Little Anna)
Watercolour
14,7 x 20,3 cm
Inscribed verso: “Anna’s Weihnachtstraum zum Angedenken von deinem Bruder Eduard, Basel d. 17 Dec. 1838”
PROVENANCE:
Wackernagel family, Basel, Switzerland
Rudolf Wackernagel, Munich (see label on verso)
Her fond brother Eduard, evidently a gifted draughtsman, sat down at his desk in Basel on December 17, 1838, and drew his little sister Anna's Christmas dream.
We see a gothic window with altar-like slender pinnacles, between which a childlike figure is positioned wearing a golden crown and a long white robe. This is the Christ child, holding a downturned pine branch in the form of a Christmas tree decorated with burning candles, apples and pastries in each hand. Above the scene stars and a crescent moon are aglow in a blue night sky.
Below the window we observe a small written note hanging from a pine branch. The window can be opened, revealing Anna in a red costume with white ribbed apron and cap. She looks down to this note - her letter to Christ child. The gentle, delicate Christ child as bringer of gifts, not to be confused with the Infant Christ, is an invention of the 16th century Reformation. It replaces the catholic St. Nicholas and helps to move the date of gift-giving from the 6th to the 24th of December.
We kindly thank Dr. Nina Gockerell, Munich, for the interpretation of this Christmas scene, drawn by a member of the Wackernagel family in Basel.