Almost every size question comes down to the same thing: a photograph on a screen gives you no sense of scale. The fix is to stop judging the piece and start judging the space.
The four sizes, in plain terms
| Size | Roughly | Where it belongs |
|---|---|---|
| Small | the length of your thumb | a desk corner, a bedside table, carried in a pocket |
| Medium | a coffee cup | a shelf, a windowsill, the edge of a bookcase |
| Large | a paperback stood upright | a mantelpiece, a hall table, a display shelf |
| Oversize | a hardback | a fireplace, a sideboard, a room you walk through daily |
Two questions that settle it
- Where will it stand? Measure the gap. A piece that overhangs a shelf edge or disappears into a big room is the wrong size.
- How will you look at it? From across a room, or from a foot away? Distance is the whole argument for going larger.
What size does not change
The likeness. A small piece is not a worse portrait — it holds fewer of the very fine details, but the face, the markings and the expression are the same work at any size. Do not pay for a larger piece hoping it will look more like your pet. It will not; it will simply be bigger.
Still between two
Tell us the space and we will pick one. This is the question we are asked most, and it is answered in a single message.
