16x26 3D Pro Carmel Canvas 2-1/2" #DC-1626

True Golden Mean Proportion - 16x26 Size

This 16x26 size is one of our Golden Mean sizes, considered the most pleasing shape to the eye!

The Golden Ratio, also known as the Golden Mean or Divine Proportion, is considered the most aesthetically pleasing proportion to the human eye. Used in art and architecture for thousands of years, countless examples can be found in nature, plant life, galaxies, and the human body. It is often used as a guide to arrange your subjects on the canvas in concert with other Golden Mean shapes like an ellipse, star, triangle, and spiral, resulting in intriguing compositions. Many famous artists, such as Michelangelo, Da Vinci, Mondrian, Botticelli, Dali, and Seurat, have used this proportion in their art, and many contemporary artists continue to use it exclusively. If you're looking for a challenge or some inspiration, consider using a canvas in the proportion of the Golden Mean to create compositions that come alive in the most intriguing and eye-catching ways!

Explore other sizes in this same 13:8 aspect ratio:

7x11 • 10x16 • 12x19 • 15x24 • 18x29 • 20x32 • 23x37 • 26x42 • 28x45 • 30x48 • 31x50 • 33x53 • 36x58 • 37x60 • 39x63 • 42x68 • 46x74 • 47x76 • 50x81 • 52x84 • 60x96 • 60x97

Explore Related Products to this 16x26 Size:

• Acrylic Primed Cotton: Monterey™ • Tahoe™ • Sausalito™ • Sierra™ • Shasta™
• Acrylic Primed Linen: Muir™ • Vintage L22U™ • Santa Cruz™ • Saint-Cloud™ • Grenoble™ • Pau™
• Alkyd / Oil Primed Linen: Malibu™ • Vintage L21C™ • Ventura™ • Versailles™ • Isola™ • Poitiers™
• Vincent™ Pro 7/8 • Monet™ Pro 1.5

Carmel™ 7oz Portrait Smooth Cotton

Very smooth surface texture for fine detailed type work, but still has enough texture to grip the paint.

• 100% Cotton 7 oz.; Primed Weight 10.3 oz. per square yard
• Medium Weight, Medium Weave, Portrait Smooth Texture
• Sized and Double Primed with acid-free archival quality acrylic gesso
• Impenetrable ground prevents oil paint from leaching through and harming the canvas
• For acrylics, oils, alkyds, and water miscible oil paints

3D™ Pro 2.5 Stretcher Bar • 1/2" Canvas Clearance

1/2" Canvas Clearance is the space between the Bar and the canvas. Generally speaking, more clearance reduces the risk of the canvas touching the wood and creating unsightly lines during painting. Our design provides the optimal clearance so as not to impact your painting, but still leaving enough wood to the maximize strength of the Stretcher Bar.

• Produces a 2.5" deep stretched canvas (Actual depth is slightly thinner)
• 1.25" wide Stretcher Bar
• All Bars have an exclusive groove on the inside perimeter of the frame to which cross braces and Diamond Corner Braces attach
• Solid Ponderosa Pine or Fir from the Pacific Northwest

Solid Wood is Archival - Finger Jointed Wood is Not

We only use Solid Wood to build our Stretcher Bars because a solid piece of wood will last indefinitely. When we speak of archival value, it's not just the paint you use and the quality of your canvas and ground, even the wood choices manufacturers make are part of the archival process.

The principal reason manufactures use finger jointed wood is reduce cost, not increase archival value. Wood constantly grows and shrinks when the environment becomes hotter, or colder, or more humid, or more dry. Because finger jointed wood is made-up of multiple and varied pieces of wood, with varying grain patterns and densities, they each absorb and shed moisture at varying rates, which works on the glue joints that hold them together, causing the wood to bow and the joints to eventually fail, and certainly not consistent with increasing the archival value of your artwork frame support.

As a manufacturer, we do our part to conserve as much wood as possible, and still provide a quality made product that will out-perform any other in the marketplace.

16x26 2.5" Deep Edge Heavy Frame Offers Maximum Support!

• Drawing depicts the exact frame construction, not the proportion
• 2.5" Deep Edge K2 Heavy Stretcher Bars are precision machined with a unique double tongue-and-groove corner joint that provides rock-solid torsional rigidity that resists warping or twisting, which is an important benefit for such a deep edge canvas
• One super strong 3/4" thick keyable brace provides maximum possible support for this 16x26 frame - Brace is permanently installed in the frame, but canvas tension may be increased by tapping-in the keys or wedges that slightly expand the size of the frame
• The Stretcher Bars have an proprietary utility groove on the inside perimeter of the frame which is used to attach braces and other optional frame supports
• The Masterpiece brace feature an exclusive system that allows you to increase the tension to the middle of the canvas, where the tension is needed the most; it's so unique it earned us a patent
• To increase canvas tension: 1) remove any staples in the corners and those that retain the brace keys in the middle, 2) tap all of the expansion keys further into their respective slots, 3) tighten and re-staple the canvas in the corners

Canvas Tension is in Your Control

In dry climates or air conditioned environments, the lack of moisture in the air causes wood frames to shrink and the canvas fibers to narrow and elongate making the canvas more slack and resulting in a loss of canvas tension. In some instances, the canvas could have waves on the surface resulting in an unsightly viewing experience.

Our 3D™ Pro 2.5 professional frames provide the functionality for you to slightly expand the size of the frame in the corners and the middle of the canvas, thereby increasing canvas tension all across the surface. The difference between a loose canvas and a tight canvas is just 1/8" of an inch, so a small adjustment using our corner and brace keys makes an important difference in canvas tension.

• Helps to prevent waves that occur in a loose canvas
• Increase canvas tension by tapping-in the corner and brace keys
• True professional class canvases make it possible for you to adjust the canvas tension

Cross Braces Make it Tighter

A tightly stretched canvas on an un-braced frame overpowers the Stretcher Bars causing them to bow inward and thereby lose tension. Sometimes that bow can expose a space in picture frames.

When a canvas is stretched on a properly supported frame, the cross-braces prevent the Bars from bowing thereby achieving maximum canvas tension. To increase the canvas tension even more, simply tap the corner and brace keys further in their slots. Properly supported frames provide you with the control over the canvas tension of your canvas and painting.

Sustainable Forests - A Precious Natural Resource

The air that we breathe depends upon our healthy forests the world over. For this reason, we only use lumber from the sustainable forests of the Pacific Northwest, so we can guarantee that our nation's precious natural timber resources are available for future generations.

MuseumWrap™ Stretching Technique

With more than a half a century of American engineering, Masterpiece® designs and builds its own proprietary stretching equipment that enables us to produce the finest and most tightly-stretched canvas on the market.

• Drum-tight stretch!
• Up to 50% tighter than other methods
• Balanced tension across the surface
• Uncut folded corners make it possible to remove and re-stretch canvas on the same size frame
• Usually the corner folds are on the long sides

Since 1965, our passion for perfection has driven us at Masterpiece® to construct professional quality canvases that artists around the nation desire. All too often, other brands are more focused on saving cost and delivering less than adequate quality. However, we find that our customers not only desire fine quality, but they also tell us that their art is better for having painted on the exquisite canvases that we produce.

The more I paint, the more I like everything. ♦ Pierre-Auguste Renoir

Pierre-Auguste Renoir, a pivotal figure in the Impressionist movement, was no stranger to the transformative power of art. His journey through the vivid landscapes and intimate portraits that dominated his oeuvre was not just an exploration of technique and color, but also a testament to the growing love and appreciation he felt for the world around him.

Artists often embark on their path fueled by a passion to express, to question, or even to challenge. Yet, as we immerse ourselves in our craft, an interesting metamorphosis occurs. The act of creation amplifies our connection to our surroundings, our subjects, and even to ourselves. We begin to see beauty in the mundane, potential in the overlooked, and wonder in the everyday. Like Renoir, we discover that our continued engagement with art enriches our perspective, making us fall in love with the world all over again, brushstroke by brushstroke.

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We believe in the power of words to inspire, and the magic of art to connect. Enjoy this meaningful quote with contextual background, and admire our unique rendition of Pierre-Auguste Renoir to complement your imagination. Get busy on your next composition!