20 Wonderful Vintage Reindeer Drawings in the Public Domain
Vintage reindeer art has something wonderfully wintry about it. This collection brings together beautiful public-domain reindeer drawings, natural history illustrations and snowy Scandinavian scenes, all free to download and print. Use them for Christmas crafts, seasonal wall art, junk journals, cards or simply enjoy these charming old illustrations of one of winter’s most iconic animals.
In the past, I have curated collections of illustrations of animals also associated with Christmas, penguins, and polar bears. I even have a collection of maps of the North Pole, where many reindeer inhabit.
This time of year, I love to craft with some Norwegian slow TV on in the background. My favourite slow TV program is the reindeer migration. This is a real-time show that runs for over 168 hours. It follows Norway's Sami reindeer herds as they migrate across the mountainous region of Finnmark. Mind you, I haven't watched it all!
Reindeer and Christmas
We all know about Rudolph and Santa's reindeer, but they were a late addition to the reindeer Christmas story. The eight reindeer that pulled Santa's sleigh first appeared in a Christmas story in 1823: Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donder, and Blitzen.
Rudolph didn't appear until 1939. A department store created him for a Christmas promotion. The song "Rudolph The Red Nose Reindeer" was first recorded in 1948.
In Scandinavia and across Eastern Europe, long before that, reindeer were associated with Christmas and winter festivities. When pagans converted to Christianity, they kept lots of their traditions. Many of these became part of Christmas customs. Pagan mythology loves reindeer.
Facts about Reindeer
- Caribou and reindeer are basically the same animal species (Rangifer tarandus). Reindeer are often domesticated, herded, and used to pull sledges. They inhabit Northern Europe and Northern Asia.
- Wild reindeer in North America (Canada and Alaska) are called Caribou. Their differences come from domestication, not evolution. Caribou are larger than reindeer, more active, and faster.
- Reindeer are the only domesticated deer in the world.
- Both males and females grow antlers, and reindeer grow new antlers every year.
- Reindeer live for up to 15 years in the wild. Domesticated reindeer can live up to 20 years.
- Reindeer are good fast swimmers. This is because when migrating, they have to cross wide, rushing rivers and even the frozen ice water of the Arctic Ocean.
- Because they migrate across harsh environments, reindeer are often seen as symbols of safe travel, strength, and endurance.
- Reindeer have a vegetable-based diet. They eat mosses, herbs, ferns, grasses, and the shoots and leaves of shrubs and trees. In winter, they eat lichen (reindeer moss) and fungi, scraping snow away with their hooves to reach them.
The Vintage Reindeer Drawings
All of these reindeer drawings are in the Public Domain. To download the drawing you want, click on the title above that illustration. The picture will open as a new window in your browser. You can then save the image to your device or send it to your printer.
Natural History Reindeer Prints
Le Renne is the French for Reindeer. I don't know much about this reindeer drawing, except that it is from the Iconographia Zoologica collection at the University of Amsterdam.
The female version of the reindeer above from the same Dutch collection.
3. A Pencil Drawing of A Reindeer
Again from the collection at the University of Amsterdam.
4. Vintage Reindeer Drawing Pencil
A lovely print of a reindeer in its winter setting. The illustration is from approximately 1842.
This reindeer illustration is from the book "The deer of all lands; a history of the family Cervidæ living and extinct", published in 1898.
Print 7: Family of Spotted Reindeer
This beautiful illustration of spotted reindeer is from the woodland animal prints. You'll find a few more reindeer illustrations in that collection.
A right profile view of an American stag or round-horned elk. Printed by L. Prang & Co.
Print 9. Various Reindeer - Oliver Goldsmith
This vintage nature poster of deer is from the book "A History of the Earth and Animated Nature" by Oliver Goldsmith.
Print 10: Four Stags Joris Hoefnagel
A drawing of four stags from Joris Hoefnagel's Four Elements.
Anselmus Boëtius de Boodt, 1596 - 1610
Print 13. Audubon American Reindeer
Audubon, John Woodhouse, 1812-1862.
Reindeer In Art Prints
1852 painting of Sami people in winter garments in Karasjok, Norway, with reindeer.
The Sami people come from a region that stretches across four countries: Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Russia. To the north, it is bounded by the Barents Sea; to the west, by the Norwegian Sea; and to the east, by the White Sea. The area is historically referred to as Lapland.
A man in fur clothes is riding his deer-drawn sleigh through a snowy landscape. His tent, tribe, and a herd of reindeer appear in the background, from the Welcome Collection.
The Aurora Borealis, with a reindeer-drawn sleigh in the foreground. A Coloured wood engraving by C. Whymper, from the Welcome Collection.
The Aurora Borealis, also known as the northern lights, is a natural light display in the Earth's sky. They are mainly seen in high-latitude regions (around the Arctic and Antarctic).
Reindeer pull children in sledges across the snowy hills, by John Augustus Atkinson, from the Welcome Collection.
18. Reindeer Foraging in the Forest
A drawing of a group of reindeer searching for food in a snowy forest. From the Welcome Collection.
From a vintage book cover of The Night Before Christmas.
Print 20. Christmas Card Reindeer
If you liked these vintage reindeer drawings, don't forget to check out the vast collection of other zoological drawings on Pictureboxblue, including those of giraffes. You might also like these antique Scandinavian Christmas cards and Scandinavian Gnomes.
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You Hi. Sami People. What is the largest size this can be printed without losing the resolution?
Keeping the resolution at 300dpi, which is suitable for printing the images, is 18cm by 22cm. But if you are printing at a print shop, they may be able to tweak the photo so you can get a larger, high-quality print.
Love these. Thank you for sharing.
Thank you, glad you enjoyed them