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Gary Nicholls Imaginarium

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A man working by candlelight among books, instruments and preserved curiosities in a Victorian study

Dr William Percival Stockdale

Fine art metal print

The Imaginarium Trilogy · Surreal Art

£3,000 2016 91 × 61 cm Limited edition of 7

  • Printed on ChromaLuxe aluminium
  • Signed, numbered and certificated by the artist
  • Made to order — allow about two weeks, plus delivery
  • Shipped insured — £20 UK, £50 worldwide
  • Payment handled securely by SumUp — card details never touch this site
  • Fourteen days to change your mind, from the day it arrives

I purchased your amazing themed story art images. The story is brilliant and the images are stunning.

Brian C., on The Imaginarium Trilogy · more

Not sure yet? Ask me about this piece — how it will sit in your room, whether the size can be changed, delivery somewhere unusual, or paying in instalments.

Ask about Dr William Percival Stockdale

Comes straight to me, and I answer it myself.

This piece is from Book One of The Imaginarium Trilogy — a steampunk story told in over 450 original photographic composites. See the rest of the set.

About this work

By candlelight, while the city sleeps, William works.

Paper, instruments, books and preserved curiosities gather around him as fragments of thought begin to form into something real. In the solitude of his study, science and imagination cease to be separate things; medicine becomes engineering, knowledge becomes invention, and possibility begins to acquire a mechanism.

From The Imaginarium Trilogy, this portrait captures William at the threshold between idea and creation — a man driven by the belief that intellect might repair what the world has broken.

Yet every discovery carries its own shadow.

In the quiet glow of the candle, he cannot yet see where his invention will lead.

For every machine begins twice:

first in the imagination,

and then in the world it will change.

How it is made, and what you receive

Built, not captured
Every element is photographed separately, then layered and worked in Photoshop until the scene holds together as one image.
No AI, no stock images
Every photograph in every composite was taken by me. Nothing here is generated, and nothing is bought in from a library.
Printed on metal
The image is infused into a ChromaLuxe aluminium panel rather than laid on top of it, which is what gives these prints their depth and luminosity. Paper cannot do it.
Signed and numbered
Each print is signed, numbered within its edition, and sent with a certificate of authenticity.
Made to order
Nothing sits in a warehouse. Your print is produced when you order it, which takes about two weeks, then shipped insured.