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Lord Bodner Octopus - Ocean Floor

$109.99

About the Artwork

The legend has it that the octopus was originally printed in 1826 by Lord Bodner in London after studying creatures of the deep. However, this unfortunately is where the quality of the existing prints for sale by others and truth began to really degrade the integrity of the art.

The reality is that Lord Bodner was actually printing a lower-grade replica of the infamous kraken known to haunt the Lochs of Scotland as well as the Outer Hebrides in the Scottish Highlands. The truth about this specific print we are selling is that this octopus had been discovered by the captain of Merchant Maritime vessels upon a deep-sea diving excursion to locate apothecary remedies to treat an undisclosed condition that had been plaguing the Royal Monarchy for several generations.

The Captain, Duke Bramford Ballantine launched the expedition in 1812 on the summer evening of 19 July. Duke Ballantine and his crew had dropped anchor, prepared their coordinates to extract the pollen of sea urchins to use as a homeopathic remedy of sea life extracted eye drops to cure the ocular imprints that had been staining the vision of only members of the British royal family after drinking water that was pinpointed to have been filtered from the River Seine in France. The French were thought to have been poisoning members of the monarchy discreetly without a clue of the royal family for decades.

After Duke Ballantine's seventh military diver had deployed into the depths of the Irish Sea, he abruptly began to notice a 'great swirl and a nine levy high swell' starboard. Ballantine pulled each man's chain attached to their diving equipment to get them to halt their descent and have them alternatively ascend as quickly as possible to get back onboard the ship, however, at this point, it was too late. Out of the sea arose a great power and what Duke Ballantine would later describe as 'a force more mighty than eighty steam engines pulling the hills of Glen Coe into Edinburgh on a wintry night'.

Now standing near the bow of the ship, Duke Ballantine was said to have gripped the anchor with all abandon as the octopus, now known as Macrocosmus, lurched tentacle, by tentacle above the bubbling sea. Ballantine and several shipmates were reported to have looked the sea beast directly in its eyes as they ascended beyond the foam that covered the surface of the water.

Witnesses said Duke Ballantine at this juncture responded with instinct and turned the ship so hard that all crew aboard concluded the vessel had collided with the Giant's Steps off the coast of Northern Ireland. History leaves it that 90% of the crew were thrown into the cold salty water and either drowned or were swallowed by the ferocity of Macrosumus who soon violently dove deep into an abyss of dark blue, never having been seen again.

Having survived the destruction at sea, Duke Ballantine sat with an affiliate to the Ashmolean years later and gave an accurate depiction of what would later become this print of Macrocosmus to the lithographic curators. The final print was lost shortly after the War of 1812 when the British were hiding their art so as not to be destroyed by opposing forces. The illustration was found perfectly preserved in a farmhouse's wine cellar near Normandy not long after the end of the war. Apparently, what I've been told by an anonymous source familiar with Duke Ballantine and of the original print is that Lord Bodner, to earn prestige at the time, had an artist recreate the work as his own to earn fame and recognition, while never citing the true source.

Apparently, the disaster at sea was covered up by the monarchy as they did not want the purpose of the expedition to be public knowledge as it would reveal the history of their health issues and also that they had been embarrassed by French espionage. As for Duke Ballantine, he later died in battle in 1826 during the Zulu Wars of Conquest. He was buried at sea.....off the coast of the Isle of Skye and his body was said to have been swept away by a rushing rogue current.

This print can be customized to have any background color you wish, simply send us a message or notify us in the notes to seller section when checking out.

NONE of our prints come framed. Please see our FAQs for more information on the services we do offer or visit the links below to learn more about our framing recommendations:

More info on where to frame your art: Where To Buy Frames 

More info about custom framing: Framing Suggestions

Your artwork will ship without the watermark that is visible on the product image.

Your artwork will ship without the 'color name' that is listed across the artwork in instances where the art is sold in an array of different colors. The color name is used to define and clarify which print color you are purchasing only.

We do add an additional, complimentary, white border around your artwork (increases overall paper size). This border is an extension of the paper the artwork is printed on. The artwork print size itself will not change in dimensions from the size you purchase, only around the margins of your chosen artwork size will the white border be extended. We add this white border to make framing easier. The added border will tuck under the lip of the frame and it will be used to hold the artwork in place. Without it, the printed artwork itself may be covered by the lip of the frame. Therefore, we add the white border to prevent this from happening.

We take special pride in our shipping services and our shipping materials.

All artwork is shipped in a high quality, very durable shipping container. Your artwork is wrapped in a special elixir paper so it will be protected during delivery.

From the time your artwork is printed, it is handled with gloves so no direct human contact will ever touch your print directly.

All artwork ships in 3-5 business days (Monday - Friday) in most instances.

All orders placed in the USA will print and ship from our US printer.

All orders placed in Europe will typically print and ship from our European printer.

All orders placed in Australia and New Zealand will typically be printed and shipped from our printer in Australia.

We do ship worldwide and we try to make it as efficient and seamless as possible for you to receive your order once it has been placed with us.

We can offer a rush printing service and a rush delivery option for you. Please send us a note to inquire about both of these options as each one will incur an additional service fee and expedited shipping charge.

Currently, we do not provide returns on purchased prints as all our orders are made-to-order.

To find out more information about our return policy, please visit: Returns

One of the most common questions we get is in reference to what are the differences between Giclée and Photo Rag.

We cover this information a bit more in depth so it will help you decide between the two paper options we supply: Material Differences

For a quick and simple overview, Photo Rag is simply one of the best papers available anywhere. The Photo Rag paper absorbs inks deeper and provides richer colors overall.

Our Giclee printed papers are a high performance fine art paper. Both paper types (Giclee and Photo Rag) have archival properties and are acid free.

Our canvas prints are gallery stretched and wrapped onto a wood mount with a 3/4" depth.

Our rolled canvas is simply a rolled sheet of canvas with a 1" border.

Because we are unable to ship canvas wood mounted prints over 40" in either height or width due to the cost of freight shipping, we therefore recommend our rolled canvas as a viable alternative as it can be stretched and mounted by a local arts and crafts store or with a local framer near you. This allows you to save money on the freight shipping cost for canvas stretched and wrapped artwork over 40" in either width or height.

All prices listed as 'Canvas' are for gallery wrapped wood mounted canvas. If 'Rolled Canvas' is offered for a print, it will be listed as 'Rolled Canvas'.

We also will add a .25", .5" or 1" white border to each side of your artwork. This border helps make the framing of your art easier should you decide to. The white border does increase the overall paper size.

For all other questions, don't hesitate to reach out to us: Contact Us

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