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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
 
"The moon was shining in a broad silver crescent. He held up the map and the white light shone through it. ‘What is this?’ he said. ‘There are moon-letters here, beside the plain runes which say “five feet high the door and three may walk abreast.”’ ‘What are moon-letters?’ asked the hobbit full of excitement." - The Hobbit, Chapter 3: A Short Rest
 
Imagine being Bilbo Baggins, a fine but rustic little hobbit who has lived his whole life within the humble Shire, but who one day finds himself welcomed to a famed house of sanctuary by none other than the ancient Elrond Half-elven. His father is seen as a star, his mother is seen as a bird, and scholars of the works of J.R.R. Tolkien have likened Elrond’s Rivendell to a great monastery where lore is kept alive in a waning age. In his most Took-ish dreams, Bilbo probably never pictured himself as the guest of such a being, and the recovery, escape, and consolation the hobbit enjoys under the protection of his host offers us one of those remarkable links between the Last Homely House of The Hobbit and Imladris of The Lord of the Rings.
 
Elrond not only deciphers the runes on the ancient Gondolin swords that Gandalf and the dwarves bring to his table, but he descries the moon letters on Thror’s map which will guide the company to the hidden door of The Lonely Mountain. Elrond is a Third Age link to an epic First Age backstory, enabling Tolkien to weave a tapestry that unfurls from The Silmarillion through the storylines of characters like the venerable Elrond.
 
This scene is one of the most technically-formidable in my collection of Tolkien illustrations. To accurately capture every detail of Thror’s map, as glimpsed through the gleaming parchment, I had to depict it backward, which I greatly enjoyed. If you bring home this museum-quality print from my hand-done, original, painting, you will notice that there are several hints about Elrond’s lineage to enjoy. His father, Eärendil, is honored in both the tapestry showing his swan ship flying over Middle-earth, and in the bright star reflected in the arched window. And little Bilbo, who loves maps and cunning handwriting, is simply enchanted to be standing at the elbow of the lordly scholar as he reads the ithildin runes in the moonlight. Gandalf smokes his pipe and looks on with interest, while Thorin Oakenshield and Balin are all attention beside him, and Ori, Dwalin, and Bofur are glimpsed across the table. The pine tree lamps overhead hint at the mountain location of Rivendell and all elves’ love of trees.
 
I had to make an artistic decision about where in the house this scene is taking place. I even surveyed fellow members of the Tolkien community to see what they thought. I have never felt that this dining room in The Hobbit is the same as the grand one depicted in The Lord of the Rings where dozens of elves and guests are seated. I don’t get the sense that there is anyone else in the room apart from Elrond, Gandalf, the dwarves and Bilbo, and so I determined that this must be a private dining room which Master Elrond uses for smaller parties. It seems a cozy room to me. I truly hope you enjoy this envisioning of Bilbo’s unforgettable visit to a place of such enchanting Faërie, and seeing Elrond, who is as “noble and and as fair in face as an elf-lord, as strong as a warrior, as wise as a wizard, as venerable as a king of dwarves, and as kind as summer.” As we know, Bilbo so valued his time at Rivendell that he retired there in his old age. It is an ideal retreat in Middle-earth, and I hope this print will become a symbol of knowledge, lore, scholarship, friendship, and wonder in your home.  
 
Read more in my article about Elrond, Bilbo, Collumcille and King Alfred.