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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.
The English-American painter Thomas Cole was possibly one of the most famous artists that followed a style that would eventually become known as the Hudson River School, due to the subject matter of most paintings by early to mid-19th-century American painters being the natural wonders of the lands around the eponymous river. Cole’s most famous works do not directly refer to the American countryside, but instead, are those of a more allegorical character. Among those, the most influential might have been the series which was started in the early days of 1839, commissioned by the deeply religious New York banker Samuel Ward, with whom the artist had conceived the idea three years earlier as a series of painting which would advance the genre of landscape painting by attaching it to the style of religious, moralistic paintings, which was considerably popular in its time.
Such was the success of the paintings that, due to Ward not allowing their exposition to the public, Cole would later paint a second series where, even though the paintings have some slight differences from the first series, the overall feel and message was maintained. This oil on canvas belongs to the first series, which was kept in the hands of Ward’s family for years, but now is in possession of the Munson-Williams-Proctor Arts Institute’s Art Museum, in Utica, New York. The series portrays the trajectory of a person’s life symbolically, in which we follow the protagonist from his childhood to his elder years, setting sail at the metaphorical river of life, accompanied by a guardian angel.
In this instance, the man is in the early years of his adult life. Enthralled by wanderlust and hope, he leaves his guardian angel on the shore, now steering the golden boat himself in the direction of an ephemerous castle in the clouds. What Cole seems to have wanted to portray here is that, in their youth, men set aside spirituality to pursue their ambitions, which are no more substantial than a castle in the clouds. The angel’s attitude, waving at the departing vessel, accepting the man’s free-will and blessing his choice. In that way, Cole seems to say that this is an expected and necessary part of life, that of distancing oneself from spirituality to forge one’s path in life.
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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 The Voyage of Life, Youth, you must email us after placing your order and we'll have an artist contact you. If you have another image of The Voyage of Life, Youth 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.
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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.
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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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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.