Bacchanal

In the pictureThe scene runs in a single row across a narrow, wide picture 9.4cm high and 24.5cm wide. At the far left a satyr clasps a struggling woman as putti cling to her legs. Beside them sits a child holding a bird on a string. In the middle stands a statue of two embracing figures on a pedestal, and below it water flows from a toppled jar to form a pool with reeds and a duck. On the right, two putti with bows take aim at a child fleeing on a large billy goat, and other children tumble about in front. The child at the far right holds a satyr mask.

BackgroundPierre Brebiette (about 1598–1642) was a painter and printmaker active in Paris in the first half of the 17th century who left a number of etchings of festivals from ancient myth and children's games in long horizontal strips. The Met's record places this plate in the set Bacchanals and Children's Games and notes that it is a trimmed impression. Brebiette's signature is at the bottom center, and at lower left is the inscription "F.L.D. Ciartres excudit Cum Privilegio," meaning it was printed under a publishing privilege by François Langlois, the Paris print publisher known as Ciartres. It was purchased with the Pulitzer Bequest Fund in 1917.

Puzzle tipIt is more than three times as wide as it is tall, so the pieces are very flat and the figures small. Find the black fur of the billy goat, the darkest area, the body of the satyr on the left and the statue's pedestal in the middle first to set the order from left to right. Join the gaps with the children's round bodies and the pieces with flying arrows. The two inscriptions along the bottom edge serve as a baseline, and the leaves and flying birds at the top are filled in last. 24 or 48 pieces is about right.