Louis-Félix Amiel (1802–1864)

In the pictureAgainst a dark background, a man with curly dark brown hair and a mustache sits with his body turned slightly, directing only his gaze straight ahead. Inside a dark brown coat with a wide collar he has wound a black silk scarf up to his neck, so his white shirt collar does not show. On the left is the back of a red chair studded with gold nails along its top edge, and at center right is the signature "Eug. Deveria 1837." Light comes in from the left, brightening the left side of the face and casting a shadow to the right of the nose, and the front of the coat is trimmed with cord-wrapped button ornaments.

BackgroundEugène Devéria (1805–1865) was born in Paris and died in Pau in southern France, a painter of the Romantic generation who made his name with a large work shown at the Salon of 1827. His older brother, Achille Devéria, was also a painter. The sitter, Louis-Félix Amiel (1802–1864), was likewise a painter active in Paris, and was about thirty-five when this was painted. It measures 61 × 50.2 cm, and the Met acquired it in 1953 through the Rogers Fund. With no props, only a dark background and a single chair, the composition draws the eye to the face.

Puzzle tipThe only light pieces are the face and the red chair, so gather those two first. Once the face is done, set the red chair back on the left and use its gold-studded top edge to line up the height. The coat and background are both dark, but the coat is brown and the background greenish brown, so separate them by their tint, and use the signature piece on the right as a reference point for the background. The dark mustache and eyebrows mark the division between upper and lower face pieces. 48 pieces is about right.