Hogwarts Great Hall Decorated for Christmas — Print & Oil Painting

Candles first, because there is no way past them. Hundreds hang from a ceiling given over entirely to a snowing night sky, each one a warm vertical smear with a bead of flame at the tip and a soft halo around it, and they are hung at every conceivable height, so the eye has to travel up and down before it will travel across.

Underneath, the hall is warm sandstone. Long tables run away into the depth of the room with benches on both sides and pupils in black robes seated in ones and twos, tiny at this scale, platters and goblets set out along the boards. None of the crowd is described in any detail. The room is the subject.

Christmas has been installed with a heavy hand and it works. A tall tree in gold lights fills the left, a second stands behind the tables, a third in deep green and gold occupies the right, each with a star at the top. Above the great fireplace a wreath of dark fir has been hung around the school arms on their quartered shield, and the fire beneath is the only red in the picture.

The touch is soft throughout, nearer to pastel than to oil, and snow has been flecked across the entire surface in tiny white dots that sit on top of everything, candles included. It is a picture about being indoors while the weather happens somewhere else. Part of our Harry Potter collection, and the warm opposite of the empty classroom in shafts of grey light. For the way out of this room, see the great staircase.