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Joris Hoefnagel and George Boeskey : “Butterfly, Snakeshead, English Walnut, and Sweet Cherry (Mira Calligraphiae Monumenta, Folio 40)”

Museum Quality Giclée on Fine Art Paper

  • Matte Finish does not pick up glare from interior lighting
  • Smooth Surface maximizes sharpness and preserves detail
  • Accent Borders display the artwork uncropped and ready to mat
  • In-house Printing assures artistic quality standards

In the 1500s, as printing became the most common method of producing books, intellectuals increasingly valued the inventiveness of scribes and the aesthetic qualities of writing. From 1561 to 1562, Georg Bocskay, the Croatian-born court secretary to the Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand I, created this Model Book of Calligraphy in Vienna to demonstrate his technical mastery of the immense range of writing styles known to him.

About thirty years later, Emperor Rudolph II, Ferdinand’s grandson, commissioned Joris Hoefnagel to illuminate Bocskay’s model book. Hoefnagel added fruit, flowers, and insects to nearly every page, composing them so as to enhance the unity and balance of the page’s design. It was one of the most unusual collaborations between scribe and painter in the history of manuscript illumination.

Because of Hoefnagel’s interest in painting objects of nature, his detailed images complement Rudolph II’s celebrated Kunstkammer, a cabinet of curiosities that contained bones, shells, fossils, and other natural specimens. Hoefnagel’s careful images of nature also influenced the development of Netherlandish still life painting.

In addition to his fruit and flower illuminations, Hoefnagel added to the Model Book a section on constructing the letters of the alphabet in upper- and lowercase.

(Text courtesy of the Getty’s Open Content Program, CC BY 4.0).

Product Information

Expect crisp detail and vivid color from our giclée process fine art prints. We use archival pigment inks on cotton fiber paper to achieve a wide color gamut, deep blacks and beautiful tonal transitions. Unlike posters, they will not fade or yellow, but maintain their original quality for as long as you own them.

How to Frame

Historical artworks were produced in whatever shapes and sizes best suited the artists and their patrons, and these rarely correspond to the proportions of modern, mass-produced frames. Most reproductions sold on the web are cropped to an arbitrary standard, compromising the integrity of the original artwork. We solve this by using accent borders to make up any differences in proportion.

Framing may be as simple as inserting the print into a standard size frame with the borders showing. In many cases, our customers choose to have them matted. Borders allow space for framers to mount the print while covering little, if any, of the artwork. Our images are sized to provide desirable mat widths in common frames.

Sizes 9” x 12”, 12” x 16”, and 16” x 20” are designed to be matted in larger frames, such as 11” x 14”, 16” x 20” and 20” x 24”, respectively. Larger prints may be matted in frames of equal size, the borders corresponding to the shape of the mat. Where the artwork is unusually square or narrow, other sizes may be preferred.

If our sizing does not meet your requirements, we provide customization free of charge. Please contact us to discuss the details.

Shipping and Returns

All orders ship within one business day. The following services are available at checkout:

United States
 
Shipping Class Price Estimated Delivery Window
USPS First Class Parcel Free 3 – 5 business days
USPS Priority Mail $3.99 2 – 4 business days
USPS Priority Mail Express $29.99 1 – 3 days, guaranteed
Canada *
 
Shipping Class Price Estimated Delivery Window
USPS First Class International $11.99 1 – 3 weeks
USPS Priority Mail Express $56.99 3 – 5 business days
International, Excluding Canada *
 
Shipping Class Price Estimated Delivery Window
USPS First Class International $17.99 1 – 4 weeks
USPS Priority Mail Express $62.99 3 – 5 business days

* International orders may be subject to import taxes at time of delivery.

Returns Policy

If you are unhappy with your order for any reason, you are welcome to return it within 60 days for a full refund. Please contact us and return your item(s) to: The Ibis 809 Grant Street Endicott, NY 13760

Your return will be processed on receipt.
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