Hummingbirds
Ernst Haeckel (1834 to 1919), 1899–1904
$150
Print check at 12 x 18 in: 183 dpi, good. Trimmed 6.5% 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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Hummingbirds arranged around the plate in a spray of hovering bodies and absurd tails — racket-tips, streamers, forked plumes — each species rendered with its gorget catching the light in green, violet and flame. Haeckel gives them a dark ground so the iridescence reads, and lets the long tails do the composition, curving into the corners like calligraphy. The discipline is real taxonomy; the arrangement is pure design. It is the clearest statement of his lifelong claim: that the forms evolution arrives at are not merely functional but, by any honest measure, beautiful. A jewel case of a page.
- Maker
- Ernst Haeckel (1834 to 1919)
- Date
- 1899–1904
- Medium of the original
- Painting
- Original held by
- Kunstformen der Natur
- Credit
- Kunstformen der Natur · via Wikimedia Commons
- Rights
- Public domain, verified
- Catalogue number
- PA-00632
| Picture | 12 x 18 in |
|---|---|
| Outside size | 13.6 x 19.6 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 8 x 12 in | 275 | Excellent | Trimmed 6.5% |
| 11 x 14 in | 214 | Excellent | Trimmed 9.2% |
| 12 x 16 in | 196 | Good | Trimmed 4.9% |
| 12 x 18 in | 183 | Good | Trimmed 6.5% |
| Size | Why |
|---|---|
| 8 x 10 in | Wrong shape: a 11% crop |
| 16 x 20 in | Wrong shape: a 11% crop |
| 16 x 24 in | 137 dpi; a historical scan is never enlarged |
| 18 x 24 in | 131 dpi; a historical scan is never enlarged |
| 20 x 30 in | 110 dpi; a historical scan is never enlarged |
| 24 x 30 in | Wrong shape: a 11% crop |
| 24 x 36 in | 91 dpi; a historical scan is never enlarged |
| 30 x 40 in | 78 dpi; a historical scan is never enlarged |
| 36 x 48 in | 65 dpi; a historical scan is never enlarged |
| 40 x 60 in | 55 dpi; a historical scan is never enlarged |
- Scanned
- 2026-10-07
- Master file
- 2,359 x 3,308 px, srgb
- Tone
- Darks 26, lights 238 of 255; 0% clipped light, 0% clipped dark
- Colour
- 0% vivid
- Sharpness
- 24.02
- Notes
- Neutrals lean toward green: 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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