coastal.tours
de Hooch Holtzapffel
[Courtyard of a Dutch house], 1932-1936. 188 plywood pieces, 36 x 44 cm. Semi-interlocking with colorline cut. Holtzapffel's English Jig-Saw Puzzle.
This 1658 painting by Pieter de Hooch (1629-1684), from Room 25 of the National Gallery, formed the centerpiece of a large De Hooch exhibition in Delft in early 2020. It was the last show I visited before the pandemic struck. It's a remarkable painting, apparently juxtaposing the worlds of the owner (left) and the servant (right) in the emerging capitalist society of 17th century Holland. The Delft exhibition commented on the exquisite play of lines in the painting, rigid and straight on the left versus slightly tilted but still harmonious on the right. The National Gallery's essay on this painting emphasizes the obvious connection between the maid and the child on the right, while the mother on the left has turned her back at them.
This late Holtzapffel puzzle does an excellent job of going along with De Hooch's line play, using colorline cutting to create a fake vertical edge in the middle, almost the full length of the puzzle. The corridor and the mother are also singled out by colorline cutting, as are the contours of the maid and the child, the steps (in both halves of the painting), and the bucket.
This puzzle has the rather unique combination of interlocking and colorline cutting, and the pieces are exceptionally large, but it all works very well with this image. There also appears to be some long-line (continuous) cutting, horizontally across the middle of the blank, and all around the puzzle on the inside along the edge pieces.
The box has the year 1936 scribbled on it, which may be the year of production. The printing on the box states that the puzzle was supplied by Walker & Holtzapffel (retail) Ltd., 61 Baker Street, London, the company's address from 1932 on.
de Hooch Holtzapffel
[Courtyard of a Dutch house], 1932-1936. 188 plywood pieces, 36 x 44 cm. Semi-interlocking with colorline cut. Holtzapffel's English Jig-Saw Puzzle.
This 1658 painting by Pieter de Hooch (1629-1684), from Room 25 of the National Gallery, formed the centerpiece of a large De Hooch exhibition in Delft in early 2020. It was the last show I visited before the pandemic struck. It's a remarkable painting, apparently juxtaposing the worlds of the owner (left) and the servant (right) in the emerging capitalist society of 17th century Holland. The Delft exhibition commented on the exquisite play of lines in the painting, rigid and straight on the left versus slightly tilted but still harmonious on the right. The National Gallery's essay on this painting emphasizes the obvious connection between the maid and the child on the right, while the mother on the left has turned her back at them.
This late Holtzapffel puzzle does an excellent job of going along with De Hooch's line play, using colorline cutting to create a fake vertical edge in the middle, almost the full length of the puzzle. The corridor and the mother are also singled out by colorline cutting, as are the contours of the maid and the child, the steps (in both halves of the painting), and the bucket.
This puzzle has the rather unique combination of interlocking and colorline cutting, and the pieces are exceptionally large, but it all works very well with this image. There also appears to be some long-line (continuous) cutting, horizontally across the middle of the blank, and all around the puzzle on the inside along the edge pieces.
The box has the year 1936 scribbled on it, which may be the year of production. The printing on the box states that the puzzle was supplied by Walker & Holtzapffel (retail) Ltd., 61 Baker Street, London, the company's address from 1932 on.