Kinkade Christmas Canvas

THOMAS KINKADE "MEMORIES OF CHRISTMAS - SEASON OF LIGHTS II" - NUMBERED GALLERY PROOF (G/P) LIMITED EDITION CANVAS 219/1100 WITH GOLD FOIL REMARQUE, PUBLISHED BY MEDIA ARTS GROUP / LIGHTPOST PUBLISHING, IN THE ORIGINAL CHERRY-FINISH ROCOCO FRAME WITH LINEN LINER AND ENGRAVED BRASS NAMEPLATE A framed Thomas Kinkade limited edition canvas transfer, "Memories of Christmas - Season of Lights II," issued as a Gallery Proof (G/P) canvas and hand-numbered 219/1100 in the lower right corner with the artist's printed signature and the small gold foil remarque above the signature that identifies the Gallery Proof tier. The image is Kinkade's snowy village nocturne - a lamp-lit stone cottage with warm glowing windows, a white church steeple beyond, a horse-drawn buggy and a saddled horse on the wet snow-covered street, and a bare tree framing the left side. The canvas is stretched on a wood strainer, set behind a gold-lipped fillet and a fabric-covered linen liner, and mounted in a deep cherry-finish molding with heavy dark applied rococo scroll-and-flower ornaments at all four corners and centered ornaments top and bottom. An engraved brass nameplate is mounted on the liner at bottom center, and the reverse retains the publisher's brass "AUTHENTICITY GUARANTEED - Media Arts Group, Inc. - DNA Technologies - DNA MATRIX DOUBLE SECURITY SYSTEM" plate, the "G/P Edition - GALLERY PROOF - This Limited Edition was Hand Crafted with Pride at Media Arts Group, Inc." plate, the Lightpost Publishing / Media Arts Group production checklist strip, the original barcode inventory label, and a red "APR 22 2002" date stamp. Ready to hang on the existing braided hanging wire. Note carefully: no Certificate of Authenticity is included or pictured, and Kinkade Gallery Proof values depend heavily on the matching COA - bid accordingly. Bidders should also see the other framed art and print lots in this sale. Sold as a lot of one framed canvas as pictured. Description Form: Limited edition canvas transfer, professionally framed, wired for hanging with a braided steel wire on two side-mounted D-rings, with spring clips and offset clips securing the stretched canvas into the frame rabbet. Front nameplate, engraved verbatim: "MEMORIES OF CHRISTMAS / Season of Lights II / THOMAS KINKADE" on a shaped brass plate with two mounting screws. Signature and edition marking on the canvas: the artist's signature printed in the lower left of the image with a small gold foil remarque device just above it, and in the lower right of the image the hand-inked signature and number reading "219/1100 G/P." Reverse plate 1, verbatim: "AUTHENTICITY GUARANTEED - MAGI - Media Arts Group, Inc. - DNA Technologies - DNA MATRIX DOUBLE SECURITY SYSTEM." Reverse plate 2, verbatim: "MEDIA ARTS GROUP INC - G/P Edition - GALLERY PROOF" in a circular device, beside "This Limited Edition was Hand Crafted with Pride at Media Arts Group, Inc." Reverse checklist strip, verbatim: "THOMAS KINKADE - PAINTER OF LIGHT" crest over "LIGHTPOST PUBLISHING / MEDIA ARTS GROUP, INC. / Please check this merchandise upon receipt. Please return unwanted merchandise within 30 days," followed by numbered sign-off lines "1. Canvas, 2. Transfer, 3. Topcoat, 4. Highlight, 5. Number, 6. Hardware, 7. Frame, 8. Nameplate, 9. Final QC - Committed to Quality," each initialed by hand in red and black ink. Reverse barcode label, verbatim: "9/14/01 - 516486 - 12X16 - Memories Of Christ G/P." Reverse date stamp, verbatim: "APR 22 2002" in red ink, stamped twice on the strainer bars. Canvas size: the factory label states 12 X 16, which is the sight size of the image. Frame size: approximately 24 inches wide by 20 inches tall overall including the applied corner ornaments, per the tape-measure photographs. In the height photograph the tape hook is hooked over the top edge of the frame and the reading is taken at the bottom edge, but the camera angle is oblique; in the width photograph the tape is laid across the face of the frame rather than along a straight outside edge. Both figures are close estimates. Depth of the molding is not measured. Bidders should verify all dimensions from the photographs. Highlighting: Gallery Proof canvases were hand-highlighted, and the checklist strip shows the highlight line initialed. The photographs do not resolve individual brushstrokes clearly enough to grade the amount of highlighting present, so none is described. Attribution note Thomas Kinkade, who marketed himself as the "Painter of Light," was one of the most widely distributed American artists of the late twentieth century, and his work was published as tiered limited edition canvas transfers and paper prints rather than as original paintings, which he largely retained. Prior to 2004 those editions were published by Media Arts Group, Inc. and its Lightpost Publishing imprint, whose plates and checklist strip appear on the reverse of this piece; the Thomas Kinkade Company handled later releases. In the