Paper

Use a matte fine-art paper. Hahnemühle Photo Rag, Canson Aquarelle Rag, Moab Entrada, or a comparable cotton-rag matte. Gloss flattens the chromolithograph and watercolor palettes we work with most often, and it changes the relationship between the image and the frame. If your local print shop only offers gloss, find a different print shop.

Color profile

Files are sRGB. Most commercial print shops handle sRGB correctly. If you’re printing at a fine-art shop that prefers Adobe RGB or ProPhoto, send the sRGB file and let their operator do the conversion; that’s their job and they will do it better than your laptop.

Mat

A wide mat — 4–8 cm depending on size — reads better than a thin one for these pieces. Use a cream, warm-grey, or off-white mat rather than pure white. The 19th-century palettes look hostile against bright white.

Frame

Slim, warm-toned wood: oak, walnut, ash, sometimes a darker stained ash. Avoid metal frames and avoid wide gallery black. The pieces are quiet objects; the frame should not perform.

Hang height

Eye level for the focal element of the composition, which is usually around 150 cm from the floor — lower than American hang convention. The Belle Époque posters in particular were designed to be read at standing-figure height.

Sizing decisions

Each piece’s detail page lists the three sizes we recommend for that piece. The smallest is usually conservative (native pixel data without upscaling); the middle is our recommended hang; the largest is the upper limit for that file. We don’t recommend exceeding it — the point of an archive piece is that it reads well, not that it fills a wall.