Large sizes
Large oil portraits: 30 × 40 and 36 × 48
When a canvas over 76 centimetres is the right answer: ceiling height, sofa proportions, the price jump — and how the thing actually travels to you.
The two largest canvases on the table are 30 × 40 in at $1,090 — about 76 × 102 centimetres — and 36 × 48 in at $1,390, roughly 91 × 122. These are statement sizes: on the right wall they are the room. On the wrong wall they are a problem with a frame around it, which is why the honest answer to 'should I go large?' is almost always a question about the wall, not the subject.
The wall test: the canvas wants two-thirds to three-quarters of the width of the furniture below it — a three-seat sofa around two metres wide wants 91 centimetres or more of painting, which is exactly the 36 × 48 in. A standard ceiling of 2.4 metres can carry a 36 × 48 in hung with its centre at eye height; a lower ceiling or a narrow alcove cannot, and no amount of loving the subject fixes that.
What a large canvas needs in the composition
Here is the mistake the price table cannot warn you about: the largest canvas is not the better portrait by default. One head alone on a 91 × 122 centimetre canvas reads as lonely — the scale promises a world and delivers a face. Large paintings earn their size through furniture in the composition: the chair, the piano, the horse, the dog, the room itself.
That is also why large canvases tend to carry more subjects, and the price reflects it — each additional person or animal is a fixed step above the single-subject figure in the table. A 30 × 40 in with two figures, or a 36 × 48 in with a family and the dog, uses the scale; a single bust blown up to fill it usually does not.
Ceiling height deserves its own measurement because it governs the hang: the canvas wants its centre at eye height, roughly 150 centimetres, which leaves under 90 centimetres of headroom on a standard 2.4-metre ceiling for the 122-centimetre 36 × 48 in. That works; a lower ceiling or a hanging rail does not. Measure before ordering, not after the tube arrives — the wall test is five minutes with a tape measure and it is the only part of the commission that cannot be painted around.
Transport, stretching and framing at scale
It travels rolled in a rigid tube, tracked and insured, shipping free worldwide — rolled, not stretched, because stretched oil at 91 centimetres is both fragile and absurdly expensive to post. At the destination, a local framer stretches it; the $60–$120 stretching figure on the small sizes rises with area, so ask your framer for a quote on 30 × 40 in or larger before ordering, not after.
Check the doorway and the staircase while you are at it — a stretched 36 × 48 in is 123 centimetres on the long side, and period houses have turns it cannot survive. Rolled in the tube it fits anywhere; it is the framing stage that needs measuring.
Large canvases also change the drying arithmetic: oil dries by oxidation through the whole film, and a thickly painted 36 × 48 in is still settling when a small canvas has long finished. Varnishing happens months later for this reason — a standard part of oil practice, and worth knowing if you plan to frame immediately. The local framer will confirm the surface is ready; rushing a large canvas into glass and frame early is the classic way to damage one.
The price jump, explained
From 24 × 36 in at $789 the table steps to $1,090 and then $1,390 — the increases track painter's hours rather than canvas area, because a large likeness is built with the same care per square centimetre and there are simply many more square centimetres. There is no volume discount and no occasion surcharge; the table is the whole price list.
One scheduling note that matters at this end of the table: rush delivery at $90, which brings painting and dispatch to three weeks total, does not apply to these two largest sizes. Large oil needs its weeks between layers — a studio that promises a 36 × 48 in in three weeks is shipping you a print.
Who buys at this end of the table: households with the wall for it, and commissions that mark something room-sized — an anniversary of a family business, a house worth painting, three generations in one frame. The price is not the obstacle people expect it to be; $1,090 for a 30 × 40 in that will hang for forty years is a different proposition from $389 for a canvas that hangs for ten. Decide from the wall and the years, and the table does the rest.
What it costs
Price is set by canvas size and the number of subjects — not by the occasion, the deadline, or how much detail you ask for. The table below is the same one used on every painting page, so there is no quote to wait for.
| Canvas | Metric | 1 subject | 2 subjects | 3 subjects | 4+ subjects |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 8 × 10 in | 20 × 25 cm | $189 | $259 | — | — |
| 12 × 16 in | 30 × 41 cm | $289 | $379 | $459 | — |
| 16 × 20 in | 41 × 51 cm | $389 | $499 | $619 | $749 |
| 20 × 24 in | 51 × 61 cm | $549 | $699 | $849 | $1,029 |
| 24 × 36 in | 61 × 91 cm | $789 | $1,059 | $1,290 | $1,560 |
| 30 × 40 in | 76 × 102 cm | $1,090 | $1,449 | $1,749 | $2,090 |
| 36 × 48 in | 91 × 122 cm | $1,390 | $1,849 | $2,249 | $2,690 |
Shipping is free worldwide. Framing is optional and quoted separately — most customers have the canvas stretched by a local framer for $60–$120.
How it works
Send the photograph
One sharp phone photo is enough. Tell us the deadline, the wall it is going on, and anything that must or must not be in the picture.
See the mock-up within 24 hours
A digital composite at the exact canvas size and crop, so size and composition are settled before any paint is bought. Nothing is charged until you approve it.
Watch it being painted
Three to five weeks in real oil, with two progress photographs. You can raise a concern at either one — that is what they are for.
Approve, then it ships
You see the finished canvas first, with one free round of adjustments. Then it travels rolled in a rigid tube, tracked and insured, with the numbered certificate inside.
Real oil, not a print
Hand-painted on cotton canvas, varnished, signed. Brushwork you can see in raking light.
You approve before we paint
A digital mock-up at the exact size and crop, within 24 hours, included in the price.
Numbered certificate
Every painting ships with a signed COA stating artist, medium, size and year.
Free worldwide shipping
Rolled in a rigid tube, tracked and insured. No minimum, no distance surcharge.
Questions
Questions we actually get
Measure the furniture below the wall: the canvas wants two-thirds to three-quarters of its width, so a two-metre sofa suits the 91-centimetre 36 × 48 in. Check ceiling height and the turning space on the route from the door — a stretched large canvas is over 1.2 metres on the long side.
$1,090 and $1,390 respectively for a single subject, with each additional person or animal a fixed step above that, shown in the table. Stretching at these sizes costs more than the $60–$120 small-canvas figure, so get a framer's quote locally before ordering. Beyond that there is no quote to wait for — the canvas price is published, and each additional subject is a fixed step from the table.
No. The $90 rush, three weeks including painting, applies to the smaller and mid sizes only — a large oil genuinely needs its weeks to dry between layers. Any studio promising a 36 × 48 in in three weeks is producing a print, whatever the canvas feels like.
Rolled in a rigid tube, tracked and insured, free worldwide. Rolled travel is safer for oil than stretched, and the tube fits through any doorway. The canvas is stretched by a local framer on arrival, and the numbered certificate travels inside the tube.
Usually yes — scale promises a world, and a single head alone on a 91 × 122 centimetre canvas tends to read as lonely. Furniture, a horse, a dog or additional figures earn the size. The mock-up at the exact canvas size arrives within 24 hours and will make this obvious.
Measure the wall, send the photo
Send the wall dimensions and the photograph. We will tell you honestly whether the large size earns its space — mock-up within 24 hours.