Degas painted the ballet more than anyone, but almost never the performance — he wanted the rehearsal room, the boredom and the aching feet. Here the old ballet master Jules Perrot leans on his stick in the middle of a bright practice hall while a class of young dancers waits, scratches, adjusts a slipper, fiddles with a sash. The floor tilts up at a steep angle borrowed from Japanese prints, pushing the girls toward us. It is a picture about labour disguised as grace, the machinery behind the beauty. Degas called himself a realist; this is what he meant — the wing, not the stage.

Maker: Edgar Degas (1834 to 1917)
Date: 1871–1874
Medium of the original: Painting
Original held by: Musée d’Orsay, Paris
Credit: Musée d’Orsay, Paris · via Wikimedia Commons
Rights: Public domain, verified
Catalogue number: PA-00637

As chosen: 16 x 20 in, art print, classic frame
Picture	16 x 20 in
Outside size	17.6 x 21.6 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.

How the print check works

Sizes offered
Size	dpi	Grade	How it fits
8 x 10 in	453	Excellent	Trimmed 8.2%
11 x 14 in	323	Excellent	Trimmed 9.8%
16 x 20 in	226	Excellent	Trimmed 8.2%
24 x 30 in	151	Good	Trimmed 8.2%

Sizes withheld
Size	Why
8 x 12 in	Wrong shape: a 23% crop
12 x 16 in	Wrong shape: a 14% crop
12 x 18 in	Wrong shape: a 23% crop
16 x 24 in	Wrong shape: a 23% crop
18 x 24 in	Wrong shape: a 14% crop
20 x 30 in	Wrong shape: a 23% crop
24 x 36 in	Wrong shape: a 23% crop
30 x 40 in	Wrong shape: a 14% crop
36 x 48 in	Wrong shape: a 14% crop
40 x 60 in	Wrong shape: a 23% crop