What it takes to get on this wall.
Five tests. A work has to pass all of them. Most do not.
1 Documented origin
The file comes from a named collection with an explicit public-domain release. Never from a stock library, never from an image search, never upscaled from something small.
2 Free in every market we ship to
Two dates decide it. In the United States, the work must have been published before 1931. In Switzerland, the EU and the UK, the artist must have died before 1956. Both, or it does not ship.
3 The best-preserved impression
Many prints, photographs and plates survive in more than one impression, and no two have aged alike. Where several are available, the one in the best condition is printed — not the first file a search turns up.
4 Original size, or a stated scale
Wherever the file allows it, a work is printed at its original size, 1:1. Where it does not, or where a painting is larger than the sheet, the scale is stated. Every size we offer is backed by the file’s native resolution; nothing is upscaled. If a work only supports the smallest sheet, that is the only size you will see.
5 There is something to say
If I cannot tell you something worth knowing about a work, it does not belong here. This is the reason the catalogue stays small, and it is deliberate.