Jigsaw 1, Series 3

As reported on 19th December, have now moved onto reprises of earlier jigsaws, rather than attempting new-to-me or even new ones - except perhaps for the odd large jigsaw on state occasions.

Got through the 'Ambassadors' with commendable speed, even if the Lumia clearly has difficulty with taking pictures in artificial light. Although it might have thought - not that unreasonably - that the point of the picture was to bring out the structure of the jigsaw rather than the skill of Holbein, which it has done rather well. This may also be the result of Ravensburger's 'SOFTCLICK' technology changing the profile of the cut cardboard. I certainly liked the way the pieces fitted together: a very positive fit and one never had any doubt about the rightness or wrongness of a proposed connection.

The puzzle was also completely regular with exactly four pieces meeting at every interior vertex, while at the same time there was a pleasing variety of shape and pong configuration. A fine example of the puzzle maker's art. I must check in the heap, as I recall having another from the same team.

Started with the edge then moved onto the patterned floor. Then the carpet, then the toys. This leaving the two figures, the darker part of the floor at the back and the green curtain.. Curtain first, the stripes making it easier than it might appear. Then the left hand figure, then the right hand figure, picking up the various holes in the darker part of the floor as I went along.

Having done the puzzle, I moved onto the Technical Bulletin mentioned yesterday. Interesting stuff and I learned that a painting of this age, even one which has lasted much better than many much younger, less carefully painted paintings, is something of a reconstruction, a bit in the way of H.M.S Victory at Portsmouth, of which it is said most of the timber that you can see has been replaced at least once since its presence at the famous victory (about which we make very nearly as much noise as the French make about their near contemporary victory at Austerlitz). So in the case of the painting, made up of a dozen or so oak planks from the Poland of 1515 or thereabouts, it has been taken apart several times, with much retouching of the joins needed when putting the thing back together again. Poor conditions including damp have resulted in a lot of flaking and blistering over the centuries, meaning more retouching. What we see now being a cunning compromise between having a picture which the punter - like me - can enjoy and preserving the work of the master intact and untouched.

PS: having written the foregoing, I now turn up my comments of 4th February. Intrigued to find that I said pretty much the same on that occasion as this. Liked the same features of the puzzle and solved it in much the same order. All this without any conscious memory of the first solution at all.