Black-framed print of a bearded, long-haired man crowned with bare branches before a gold crescent halo, head bowed, holding a radiant golden sun to his chest, wrapped in a heavy dark mantle, on black.

The Winter Sovereign — Born of the Longest Night | Framed Print

12" x 16" (Vertical) / Matte / Black Frame
$59.00
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Black-framed print of a bearded, long-haired man crowned with bare branches before a gold crescent halo, head bowed, holding a radiant golden sun to his chest, wrapped in a heavy dark mantle, on black.
  • Black-framed print of a bearded, long-haired man crowned with bare branches before a gold crescent halo, head bowed, holding a radiant golden sun to his chest, wrapped in a heavy dark mantle, on black.
  • Black-framed print of a bearded, long-haired man crowned with bare branches before a gold crescent halo, head bowed, holding a radiant golden sun to his chest, wrapped in a heavy dark mantle, on black.
The Winter Sovereign — Born of the Longest Night | Framed Print

The Winter Sovereign — Born of the Longest Night | Framed Print

$59.00
Size
PaperMatte
ColorBlack Frame

He wears the bare branches of winter as a crown.

His head is bowed. Between his hands, a sun burns at the breast, laying its gold across the heavy folds of his mantle. The face above it has the gravity of someone who has lived through more than one season of darkness.

The Winter Sovereign is our image of guardianship. His authority rests in the care with which he holds the light.

For the years that ask us to become a shelter, and for what we are still willing to keep alive.

Inspired by

Rome met midwinter with the Saturnalia, which began on 17 December and grew to seven days. Work stopped, and households gave each other gifts, including wax candles. A mock king, the Saturnalicius princeps, presided over a short reign in which the usual order was set aside.

Further north, the Venerable Bede wrote in the eighth century that the Anglo-Saxons called December and January Giuli, the Yule months, named for the time when the sun turns back and begins to grow. They began their year on the night of 25 December, which they called Modranecht, "Mothers' Night". In the alchemical Rosarium philosophorum (1550), the solar principle appears as a king. Our Sovereign brings these together: a ruler of the dark half of the year, holding the sun.

For the one who becomes the shelter, and stays steady while others rest.

Details

  • Sizes: 12 × 16 in / 16 × 20 in (vertical)
  • Black solid-pine frame, matte finish; clear plexiglass front
  • Matte paper print; no mat. The art sits on a deep black field. About ¼ in at each edge sits beneath the frame lip, and the composition is set back to allow for it.
  • Arrives fully assembled and ready to hang, with hangers fitted
  • Printed and framed to order in the US or Canada. Ships to US addresses only.

Artwork by Shawn Neville.

Made with AI assistance, following human aesthetic, mythic and historical direction.