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The Old Shepherd's Chief Mourner

Name: The Old Shepherd's Chief Mourner
Brand: Best in Show
SKU: PA-01855

Edwin Landseer, 1837

Best in ShowPA-01855Tear sheet

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No print size passed the check for this piece: at 10 x 8 in, 130 dpi; a historical scan is never enlarged. We would rather show it than sell a soft print.

See pieces like it you can buy

A sheepdog rests its head on its master's draped coffin in a bare cottage, the only mourner who refused to leave. Ruskin called it a work of the highest art; it remains the most quietly devastating statement of canine loyalty ever painted.

Maker: Edwin Landseer
Date: 1837
Medium of the original: Oil on canvas
Original held by: Victoria and Albert Museum
Credit: Victoria and Albert Museum · via Wikimedia Commons
Rights: Public domain, verified
Catalogue number: PA-01855

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 withheld
Size	Why
10 x 8 in	130 dpi; a historical scan is never enlarged
12 x 8 in	Wrong shape: a 12% crop
14 x 11 in	95 dpi; a historical scan is never enlarged
16 x 12 in	86 dpi; a historical scan is never enlarged
18 x 12 in	Wrong shape: a 12% crop
20 x 16 in	65 dpi; a historical scan is never enlarged
24 x 16 in	Wrong shape: a 12% crop
24 x 18 in	57 dpi; a historical scan is never enlarged
30 x 20 in	Wrong shape: a 12% crop
30 x 24 in	43 dpi; a historical scan is never enlarged
36 x 24 in	Wrong shape: a 12% crop
40 x 30 in	34 dpi; a historical scan is never enlarged
48 x 36 in	28 dpi; a historical scan is never enlarged
60 x 40 in	Wrong shape: a 12% crop