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Museum-Quality Matte Paper Print available in two sizes:
12" x 16" (30cm x 40cm): $35.00
24" x 32" (60cm x 80cm): $48.00
"Frodo and Sam were led apart and brought to a tent, and there their old raiment was taken off, but folded and set aside with honour; and clean linen was given to them." - The Return of the King, Book VI, Chapter 4: The Field of Cormallen
Frodo and Sam awake on a field of victory. The Ring is destroyed, Gandalf is alive, their dearest friends are safe, and - most astonishingly - the two of them have survived. They are taken in their rags of honor to a scene overflowing with emotion in which the great and the good sing their praises as the hobbits stare in wonder and abashedness. It is all so intense that it is a kind of relief when Gandalf takes them aside to a tent where fine raiment has been laid out for them, and for a moment, Frodo and Sam are face-to-face again in the quiet, knowing all they have gone through together.
Things to notice about this painting:
After their long privations, the hobbits are very thin, which is sad to see, and their untrimmed hair flows in ringlets on their shoulders, which does rather give them the look of “Periannath” (princes of the Halflings), as the Men of Gondor call them. Gandalf sets silver circlets on their heads.
Frodo and Sam are wearing their mended elven cloaks; light and shadow flood the folds of Sam’s garment in token of the hobbits’ journey.
Frodo shines like a light in his mithril-coat, but he has to be convinced to wear Sting.
Sam is given golden mail that the Gaffer will later eye with suspicion and call “iron-mongery”. He is wearing the Barrow-blade, as well.
Frodo looks battle-weary, and somewhat removed, but faithful Sam is showing off his unaccustomed finery in hopes of making his beloved master smile.
Gandalf the White has cloaked his brilliant majesty in his blue cloak which is embroidered with tongues of fire.
Some branches of the mysterious red-flowering tree are glimpsed at the opening of the tent; given the climate and nature of Ithilien, I thought they might be a kind of pomegranate tree.
In the distance, Cair Andros is seen, and ships on the Anduin, and many pavilions; soon Gandalf and the hobbits will go to a great feast in one of the tents and be reunited with Merry and Pippin, at long last!
In painting this quiet scene of private reckoning between the hobbits under the kindly gaze of Gandalf, I was thinking of a kind of tapestry which might have been woven by Sam’s descendents in memorial of the Ring-bearers who saved all the Free Peoples of Middle-earth, and, importantly, the way of life of the Shire. The signs are there of what Sam and Frodo suffered in sacrificing their health and nearly their lives to the quest, but flowers bloom at their feet - a sign that goodness has been preserved for the world. They are so small, but they are heroes. By hanging a museum-quality print of this original, hand-painted scene of the hobbits on the Field of Cormallen, you, too, can say Eglerio! for Frodo Baggins and Samwise Gamgee.