The Ninth Wave
Ivan Aivazovsky (1817 to 1900), 1850
$235
Print check at 24 x 16 in: 212 dpi, excellent. Trimmed 0.8% to the shape of the print.
Shipping to a US address: $25.90 for this piece, from the print room in Charlotte, North Carolina.
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Sailors cling to the wreckage of a mast after a night storm, and the sun comes up straight into the water, turning the whole sea translucent gold and green. The title comes from the old mariners’ belief that waves build in series and the ninth is the killer — it is gathering at the right, about to arrive. Aivazovsky painted the sea for sixty years and better than anyone before or since; he worked largely from memory, laying transparent glazes so light appears to come through the wave rather than off it. Catastrophe and sunrise in the same breath, which is exactly what the sublime means.
- Maker
- Ivan Aivazovsky (1817 to 1900)
- Date
- 1850
- Medium of the original
- Painting
- Original held by
- The State Russian Museum, St Petersburg
- Credit
- The State Russian Museum, St Petersburg · via Wikimedia Commons
- Rights
- Public domain, verified
- Catalogue number
- PA-00617
| Picture | 24 x 16 in |
|---|---|
| Outside size | 25.6 x 17.6 in |
| Depth | 0.9 in (22 mm) |
| Weight | [[REAL PROOF NEEDED: shipped weight per size and frame]] |
| Hanging | [[REAL PROOF NEEDED: hanging hardware Prodigi fits to this frame]] |
| Material | Enhanced matte art paper, 200 gsm; acrylic glazing |
| Made in | Charlotte, North Carolina, by Prodigi |
Before a size goes on sale, the file is measured against it: pixels per inch at that size, how much of the picture a crop would lose, tone and sharpness. A size that fails is not offered, so there is nothing to choose wrong.
| Size | dpi | Grade | How it fits |
|---|---|---|---|
| 12 x 8 in | 424 | Excellent | Trimmed 0.8% |
| 18 x 12 in | 282 | Excellent | Trimmed 0.8% |
| 24 x 16 in | 212 | Excellent | Trimmed 0.8% |
| 30 x 20 in | 169 | Good | Trimmed 0.8% |
| Size | Why |
|---|---|
| 10 x 8 in | Wrong shape: a 16% crop |
| 14 x 11 in | Wrong shape: a 14% crop |
| 16 x 12 in | Wrong shape: a 10% crop |
| 20 x 16 in | Wrong shape: a 16% crop |
| 24 x 18 in | Wrong shape: a 10% crop |
| 30 x 24 in | Wrong shape: a 16% crop |
| 36 x 24 in | 141 dpi; a historical scan is never enlarged |
| 40 x 30 in | Wrong shape: a 10% crop |
| 48 x 36 in | Wrong shape: a 10% crop |
| 60 x 40 in | 84 dpi; a historical scan is never enlarged |
- Scanned
- 2026-10-07
- Master file
- 5,090 x 3,420 px, srgb
- Tone
- Darks 19, lights 197 of 255; 0% clipped light, 0% clipped dark
- Colour
- 0% vivid
- Sharpness
- 4.54
- Notes
- Neutrals lean toward magenta: the paper and varnish of the original, kept as scanned
Shipping for this piece to a US address is $25.90, the print room’s own rate, charged per piece. Checkout shows the total before you pay.
Every piece is printed after you order it, in Charlotte, North Carolina, and ships from there. For now we ship to US addresses only.
A piece that arrives damaged, misprinted or in the wrong size is replaced at our cost. The details: shipping and returns and replacements.
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