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FRAMING INFORMATION
1st Art Gallery offers the option to receive your painting ready to hang or rolled in a tube.
Currently, for safety, we're able to ship framed paintings only up to a certain size. Once the maximum size is reached, the framing option is automatically disabled.
However, if you are interested in stretching or framing a painting larger than 24x36 inches (60x90 cm), please contact one of our customer success associates or let us know in your order notes. We will send you a catalog of our large framing styles and pricing options.
Unframed rolled canvas orders will arrive rolled inside a protective tube with an extra 1.5" white canvas on all sides so you can easily frame it locally.
John William Waterhouse's 1903 canvas Psyche Opening the Golden Box takes as its subject a story from a Latin novel known as 'The Golden Ass' written by Apuleius in the 2nd century. One of the artist's favourite myths, the story of Cupid and Psyche follows the princess Psyche, an object of jealously for the Goddess Venus on account of her radiant looks. In anger, Venus orders her son Cupid to make Psyche fall desperately in love with a monster. Instead, Cupid falls for Psyche. After a number of tests, obstacles and trials, the gods immortalise Psyche and the pair are married in heaven. Yet the last of these trials imposed upon Psyche included a journey to the underworld to collect and contain within a box a portion of the beauty of the Queen of the Underworld for the goddess Venus to revitalise her looks. After an arduous search, Psyche fills the box and re-enters the world into the light of day. It is there that she is overcome by an unbearable inquisitiveness and opens the box. What she finds inside is only a deep and infernal sleep.
Apuleius's novel was rediscovered during the Renaissance and became engrained in the classical canon that was the foundation of so much of Waterhouse's creative output. This imagined reproduction of the scene encapsulates many of the long-running themes of Waterhouse's prodigious career. Psyche Opening the Golden Box fuses the immensely popular and notorious Pre-Raphaelite style of the mid-nineteenth century with the Academic and Neo-Classical styles. Waterhouse was responsible for over 200 works throughout his career, almost of all of them imagined reproductions of life and scenes in classical mythology, historical, literary and legendary subjects. A close adherent to the Classical tradition Waterhouse commonly portrayed situations or tableaux in which a femme fatale is ensnared by her own unbearable curiosity.
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Real Oil Paints, Real Brushes, Real Artists, Real Art. The Certificate of Authenticity which arrives with every painting provides an assurance and verifies the authenticity of the hand painted fine art reproduction you purchased. Each oil painting is created by hand using only the finest canvas and oil paints available.
Important Notes About Your Painting:
If you have any request to alter your reproduction of Psyche Opening the Golden Box 1903, you must email us after placing your order and we'll have an artist contact you. If you have another image of Psyche Opening the Golden Box 1903 that you would like the artist to work from, please include it as an attachment. Otherwise, we will reproduce the above image for you exactly as it is.
- Ordered without a frame, it will be delivered in protective tube within 21-28 business days.
- When ordering the painting framed - allow additional 5-7 days for delivery. The painting will arrive ready to hang.
- Every painting is painted by an experienced artist.
- No printing or digital imaging techniques are used.
- 100% hand painted oil painting on artist grade canvas.
- Painting comes with a Certificate of Authenticity.
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- Hand crafted means unique to every owner. Each canvas reproduction may vary slightly in brush details due to the nature of being hand painted, so no two paintings are the same.
- For those customers who appreciate quality and want to own an artist's work as it was meant to be enjoyed we are here for you.
Free shipping is included in the price of the painting. Once the painting is ready and dry enough to ship, we will roll it and ship it in a sturdy cardboard tube.
We always ship express via courier to ensure your order reaches you as soon as possible - normally within three business days. The total delivery time from the moment you place your order until the package is delivered to your door is normally between three to four weeks.
If, in the unlikely event you were dissatisfied with the painting after reviewing it in person, it can be returned for a full refund for up to 365 days after delivery.
When you receive the painting; you are free to return it for more revisions or else for a full refund minus our actual shipping cost -- which is, on average, $35 per painting.
1st Art Gallery provides a full warranty covering manufacturing and material defects for paintings purchased from our website. The warranty covers damage for normal use. Damage caused by incidents such as accidents or inappropriate use are not covered.
Depending on the degree of damage to the warranted painting, it will either be repaired or replaced. This warranty service is provided free of charge.
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Our paintings are 100% handmade by an experienced artist
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(unstreched canvas)
You may choose to purchase your painting framed, in which case, it will arrive "ready to hang". We offer more than 20 beautiful models, all hand finished and expertly assembled by our experienced framers.
Note that for safety reasons we can only frame up to a certain size. Once the maximum size is reached the framing option is automatically disabled.
If you are planning to frame your painting yourself, use an existing frame, or frame it locally, you may choose to order your painting with a stretching service, meaning that it will arrive mounted on wooden bars.
If you're considering not framing your painting at all, you may opt for a Gallery Wrap. The term Gallery Wrap refers to the way the canvas is stretched, which is by wrapping it around thick stretcher bars, about 1.5 inch thick, with the canvas being secured to the back rather than the sides of those bars.
All orders ship with UPS, FedEx or DHL and will arrive directly to your home or office. A tracking number will be emailed to you as soon as the order leaves our studio so you can track it online. All orders ship express and usually arrive within 4-5 days from the shipping date. Due to shipping restraints, many of our framed, stretched, and oversize paintings may take 6-21 days for arrival depending on the safest route determined by the postal service.
Unframed paintings are covered with a special protective film, are gently rolled and then placed inside a strong specially designed tube.
Stretched, Gallery Wrapped and Framed paintings are covered with protective bubble wrap, separated by foam board and then carefully put into the cardboard box.