Anna Atkins & Anne Dixon – Athyrium molle, 1853 | Framed Giclée Print

Athyrium molle is a soft-leaved lady fern. Anne Dixon pressed it, Anna Atkins printed it, and the sun did the drawing — a white frond standing in Prussian blue, every pinnule separated, no line drawn by hand. The species name at the foot of the sheet is written in Atkins's own hand.

Anna Atkins made her images without a camera. She laid the dried plant on paper coated with iron salts, exposed it to daylight and rinsed it in water. She had done this several thousand times already for Photographs of British Algae (1843–1853), the first book in history illustrated with photographs. This sheet belongs to what came after: Cyanotypes of British and Foreign Ferns, 1853, made together with her friend Anne Dixon.

What this is. A giclée reproduction of a cyanotype, printed with pigment inks. It is not a cyanotype and is not sold as one — a real cyanotype is a unique object made in sunlight, and these are in museums.

Scale
Original, as the Getty catalogues it: image 25.4 × 19.4 cm / 10.0 × 7.6 in — The J. Paul Getty Museum
40 × 50 cm / 15.7 × 19.7 in — Enlarged, 1.56× original

Provenance
Anna Atkins (1799–1871) and Anne Dixon (1799–1864), Athyrium molle, from Cyanotypes of British and Foreign Ferns, 1853; cyanotype, 25.4 × 19.4 cm.
The J. Paul Getty Museum.

Where this comes from
The museum file, the measurements, and what we are allowed to sell: the record for this sheet.

The frame
Giclée on 200 gsm FSC-certified fine art paper, twelve pigment inks, white border. Slim black aluminium frame, glazed with clear plexiglass instead of glass, so it travels safely. Print and frame ship together in one package and are assembled on arrival. Part of the Hotel Collection — volume pricing from ten pieces.