This is a painting of four people outside of a circular stone wall that contains a statue and several trees. The four people are on the left, next to an opening in the curving wall.

The Sanctuary of Hercules

Arnold Böcklin (Swiss, 1827–1901)

Date
1884
Medium
oil on wood
Size
44¾ × 71 in (113.8 × 180.5 cm)
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, accession 1976.36.1. See the museum’s record
Credit
Andrew W. Mellon Fund

Public domain image courtesy of the National Gallery of Art (Open Access, CC0).

Palette

Closest wall colors:

Hang it

Pick the furniture and a print size to see it to scale on your wall.

Print
24 × 36 in, filling the paper (trims 5.4 % of the picture)
Center
55¼ in (140 cm) from the floor
Above the sofa
8 in (20 cm) from the sofa to the frame
Ideal width
56 to 63 in over an 84 in sofa
Why this height
Centered at eye level, this frame would not sit 6 to 10 in above the sofa, so the 8 in gap sets the height.
The Sanctuary of Hercules: a 24 × 36 in print hung above a sofa, drawn to scale on a 12 × 8 ft wall
24 × 36 in landscape print (61 × 91 cm), centered 55¼ in from the floor, 8 in above the sofa. Drawn to scale on a 12 × 8 ft wall.

Try it on your wall color

Default greige

Standard paper sizes that keep this painting’s proportions, the frames that fit them, and how sharp each one prints.

Sharpness is worked out from the largest file the museum offers. Above 300 dpi a print holds up at arm’s length; 150 dpi is plenty for a picture seen from across a sofa.

Download

Free for any use, including commercial: this image is public domain (CC0).

Public domain image courtesy of the National Gallery of Art (Open Access, CC0). You may print, share, change and sell it without asking. Read what that means on our image license page, and how to get a good result in how to print a public-domain painting.