Victorian Christmas Greeting Card Girl at Window with Holly

A pink quilted coverlet, a book, a pie or tart, and a small ball arrange themselves around a curly-haired child in a white nightgown who sits smiling in bed with the unnerving calm of someone who absolutely knows what she did — this is Frances Brundage's 1910 masterpiece in unsettling domestic serenity. Outside her window, a wreath with a red bow and a tiny bird perched on the sill work to convince you this is wholesome, but the girl's rosy-cheeked Stepford grin and the general vibe of 'what is she doing alone in bed with a pie' ensures this card has aged into something that belongs in a horror anthology rather than a mantelpiece. The holly decorating the card's border and the Christmas wreath try their best, but they can't quite pull it off.