Carl Barks: ""Der letzte Wintertag / Mardi Gras Before the Thaw" Lithograph framed

A unique wintertime look at Duckburg, its denizens and an ice castle.
The Duck family and all their friends (plus a few antagonists) are en­joying a Mardi Gras Before the Thaw - a festive, subfreezing ice skate party. While nephews Huey, Dewey and Louie sculpt a familiar ­looking snowman, Daisy and Donald Duck glide over the pond's surface, hand-in-hand, oblivious to all but each other.
Uncle Scrooge is in his element, turning the occasion into a profit maker and if you look closely,
isn't that Mickey and Minnie in the background among other recognizable silhouetted figures?

Society scenes like this hardly appear in Barks-stories, most likely in his later works like Hero of the Dike (WDC&S 288) or Duck Out of Luck (WDC&S 294).
Like in Holiday in Duckburg, Barks assembles countless citicens of Duckburg together in harmony. By this, the scene is bereft of content. Isolated from the dramatic style of their comic-strip-life, the Ducks and their fellow citizens give the impression as if they are let out on parole from Disneyland. This is even more underlined by the vanishing figures in the gate of 'Sleeping Beauty Castle' (from Fantasyland). However, this doesn’t detract the appeal of this picture.

Original: 1992 / 30x24 inches. Oil on masonite.