Room "M" in The Metropolitan Museum of Art in 14th Street

In the pictureIn a narrow gallery stands a bust surrounded by a brass railing, and ceramics are lined up on a shelf high on the wall. Two visitors can be seen through an open door, and light reflects off the floor. Pencil marks remain beneath the lines drawn in pen and ink.

BackgroundBefore moving to its present building in Central Park in 1880, the Metropolitan Museum of Art rented a mansion on 14th Street from 1873. Frank Waller made many drawings of the museum in those years and completed the 1881 oil painting "Interior View of the Metropolitan Museum of Art when in Fourteenth Street," and this drawing is part of that preparation. It is a rare record showing that today's vast museum was once a few rooms in a mansion.

Puzzle tipIt is a black-and-white line drawing, so color will not help. Assemble pieces with heavy lines first, such as the straight lines of the door frame, the vertical posts of the railing, and the dark mass of the bust, and check the sparsely drawn floor and wall pieces against the preview. 24 or 48 pieces is a good fit.