The Recitation

Thomas Wilmer Dewing

1891 · Oil on canvas · Detroit Institute of Arts

Size3:2 ratio

Frame

$39Unframed print · made to order

📦 Free shipping on every order, arriving in 4–9 business days with production included. Express ($14.90) at checkout arrives in 4–6 business days.

Complete the setHangs well with these two

This print

The Recitation

Wapping

The Ironworkers' Noontime

3 × $39 at 18 × 12 in, unframed = $117 → $105.30 as a set · 10% included · free shipping

Choose different prints →

Giclée-printed to order on heavyweight matte fine-art paper

Free shipping worldwide · arrives in 4–9 business days

Arrives perfect or we reprint it — free

Secure checkout via Stripe

About this work

Artist: Thomas Wilmer Dewing (1851–1938)
Year: 1891
Medium: Oil on canvas
Original size: 76.2 × 139.7 cm
Collection: Detroit Institute of Arts
Movement: Tonalism

Two women in long gowns occupy a wide, misty green lawn, one seated in a chair listening while the other stands at a distance, apparently reciting, with an empty chair between them and a band of pale sky above. Dewing painted such dreamlike, almost empty scenes of women in landscape in the 1890s, and they became the signature of his Tonalist style. The figures are small against the sweep of green and blue, and the mood is quiet and suspended. The Detroit Museum of Art bought the painting in 1908.

This print reproduces the whole work, uncropped, from a high-resolution scan of the original. The original is in the public domain.

Where it works

A dreamy sea-green and blue scene for a bedroom, living room or reading room in a thin black frame. It suits pale grey, sage or soft white walls at 18×12 and pairs with Dewing's Summer.

Style, size & framing detail

Style: Tonalism painting
Era: 19th century (1891)
Orientation: Landscape
Mood: classic
Rooms: living room, bedroom, dining room
Good gift for: housewarming, art lovers

Size. We'd hang this one at 18×12. Prints at 18×12 in — 18×12 for a shelf, desk or a gallery-wall grid.

Framing. The gallery ground is part of the print, so frame it without a mat — dark wood flatters the lighter palette; black sharpens it.

Pairing. Pairs as a set of three with other famous painting prints (10% off three or more).

Details & materials

• Restored in-house from the original painting — cleaned and colour-trued at museum resolution • Heavyweight matte fine-art paper, giclée printed at 300 DPI • Sizes: 18×12 in; every size also available framed • Framed option: wood frame in black or dark wood, 12 mm wide and 22 mm deep, with a plexiglass front and no mat; the print is mounted inside and the frame's outside measures the listed size • Made to order; colours may vary slightly from screen

Shipping & returns

Printed after you order at the facility nearest you, then shipped. Standard delivery is free and takes 4–9 business days from order to door in the US, UK and EU (up to 10 elsewhere); Express takes 4–6 business days. Because each print is made to order we don't take change-of-mind returns, but if it arrives damaged or flawed we'll reprint or refund it — no return needed. Full policy →

Is this the whole painting, or a crop?

The whole work, uncropped. The image fills the print at the painting's own proportions; nothing is trimmed to fit a frame.

Is The Recitation in the public domain?

Yes. Thomas Wilmer Dewing (1851–1938) died more than 70 years ago and the work was published before 1929, so the painting itself is public domain. This print is a reproduction made from a high-resolution scan of the original, which is held by Detroit Institute of Arts.

What is it printed on?

Heavyweight matte fine-art paper with pigment inks, made to order in 18×12 inches; every size is also offered framed in black or dark wood, with plexiglass and no mat. Colours are matched to the scan, not brightened.

When was The Recitation painted, and in what medium?

The Recitation dates from 1891 and was made in oil on canvas; the original measures 76.2 × 139.7 cm.

What size works above a sofa or bed?

Across a three-seat sofa or a queen bed, 18×12 is the size that reads as one statement piece. For The Recitation we'd choose 18×12. It is a landscape print, wider than it is tall, at the painting's own proportions.

About this design

The Recitation (Thomas Wilmer Dewing) — The Recitation · Thomas Wilmer Dewing · 1891. This is a fine-art reproduction of a public-domain masterwork, shown whole and uncropped on a gallery ground, printed to order on heavyweight matte fine-art paper. Every size is offered unframed or framed in black or dark wood. Part of the Madten Fine Art Collection. — — — Printed to order and shipped by our production partner, Gelato.

Buy with confidence

The Madten promise

Gallery-grade archival giclée. Rich pigment inks on heavyweight fine-art paper (or gallery-wrapped canvas) — built to last, not a poster-shop print.

Arrives perfect or we reprint it — free. Every piece is made to order; if it shows up damaged or flawed we remake it, no return needed.

Free worldwide shipping. Made & shipped from the facility nearest you — most orders arrive in 4–9 business days.

Secure checkout. Payments handled by Stripe; we never see or store your card.

Also available as