The Dragon Arum
William Ward, after Peter Charles Henderson and Robert John Thornton, 1801
$90
Print check at 8 x 12 in: 183 dpi, good. Trimmed 7.3% to the shape of the print.
Shipping to a US address: $24.80 for this piece, from the print room in Charlotte, North Carolina.
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If any single plate explains Robert John Thornton's whole quixotic project, it is this one: a dragon arum's blackish-maroon spathe rearing against a storm-lit volcanic backdrop, complete with distant eruption and falling embers. The Temple of Flora paired botanically exact flowers with full Romantic landscape settings, and nowhere did engraver Peter Henderson and printmaker William Ward push the theatrics further than here — the plant's genuinely strange, faintly sinister form (it is pollinated by flies drawn to its carrion smell) practically demanded a gothic stage. What to notice: the flower itself is drawn with total scientific fidelity even as its setting turns operatic — Thornton's insistence that accuracy and drama were never in conflict is the whole argument of his ruinous, beautiful book.
- Maker
- William Ward, after Peter Charles Henderson and Robert John Thornton
- Date
- 1801
- Medium of the original
- Plate
- Original held by
- Wikimedia Commons
- Credit
- Wikimedia Commons
- Rights
- Public domain, verified
- Catalogue number
- PA-00249
| Picture | 8 x 12 in |
|---|---|
| Outside size | 9.6 x 13.6 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 | 183 | Good | Trimmed 7.3% |
| Size | Why |
|---|---|
| 8 x 10 in | Wrong shape: a 10% crop |
| 11 x 14 in | 143 dpi; a historical scan is never enlarged |
| 12 x 16 in | 131 dpi; a historical scan is never enlarged |
| 12 x 18 in | 122 dpi; a historical scan is never enlarged |
| 16 x 20 in | Wrong shape: a 10% crop |
| 16 x 24 in | 91 dpi; a historical scan is never enlarged |
| 18 x 24 in | 87 dpi; a historical scan is never enlarged |
| 20 x 30 in | 73 dpi; a historical scan is never enlarged |
| 24 x 30 in | Wrong shape: a 10% crop |
| 24 x 36 in | 61 dpi; a historical scan is never enlarged |
| 30 x 40 in | 52 dpi; a historical scan is never enlarged |
| 36 x 48 in | 43 dpi; a historical scan is never enlarged |
| 40 x 60 in | 36 dpi; a historical scan is never enlarged |
- Scanned
- 2026-10-07
- Master file
- 1,582 x 2,200 px, srgb, sRGB v4 ICC preference perceptual intent beta display class
- Tone
- Darks 51, lights 206 of 255; 0% clipped light, 0% clipped dark
- Colour
- 0% vivid
- Sharpness
- 5.28
- Notes
- Neutrals lean warm (yellow): the paper and varnish of the original, kept as scanned
Shipping for this piece to a US address is $24.80, 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.
Cabinet of Curiosities
The old world’s book of wonders, for your wall.
All 69 pieces from Cabinet of Curiosities
