Jigsaw 2, Series 3

Following the Holbein of the 25th December, another reprise of another National Gallery jigsaw, this one taken from the largest Foppa to have made it from the plains of Lombardy at the close of the 15th century to our national collection, complete with its technical bulletin and on this occasion photographed in the more satisfactory natural light of the morning. Clearly picking up speed again.

The paint might be a bit worn and the faces might be a bit stylised, but the composition is intricate, intriguing and ultimately very satisfying, with the solemnity of the subject nicely balanced by the naturalistic touches. Amongst other things, a study in feet and hooves, conspicuous in the lower part of the picture. Artily notable for the extensive use of pastiglia (building up the surface of important features (like crowns and cups) with paste or pasta and then painting over that) and sgraffito (painting one colour on top of another and then creating a delicate design by scratching though the top coat to reveal the bottom coat. For example the yellow coat, middle foreground). Not to mention the pouncing which I failed to find. These technical bulletins are proving fascinating.

The jigsaw had the same virtues as that of the Holbein, although I solved it rather faster and I have not checked whether the Foppa was made with the same cutter as the Holbein; this is left as an exercise for the reader. I would guess not as Ravensburger might not make many jigsaws for the National Gallery, but they do make a lot of jigsaws. Turning to my solution, edge first then architecture. Few odd bits building in from the edge. Then faces, then the white tunic. Then most of the page & horse, then most of the landscape at the back.

Then the yellow coat, then the various bits of red, these last having the virtue of being easy, having got this far, to pull out of the heap. Plus, the patches were quite small so most of the pieces with red had other colours, and hence identifying edges, which helped placement.

Then advance on all fronts, actually finishing with the blue robe of the Virgin.

Sadly there are not any others in this short series that I fancy, so I shall have to put my thinking cap on.

PS 1: I noticed yesterday that 'The Works' is discounting BBC jigsaws of animals, but they are dull as pictures and look hard as jigsaws. So I passed.

PS 2: note the Treasury tag holding the pages of the bulletin together. These tags are widely used in the civil service, not just the Treasury. They are sold by Rymans but I don't know who else uses the things apart from me. I find them very useful, much more convenient to tag a small bundle of papers than to put them in a file or folder.