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

In the pictureA long shelf runs along the upper left wall, lined with relief sculptures and jars. Below the shelf a bust stands on a tall pedestal, enclosed by an angled metal railing. Above the open door on the right is a small sign with the room's name, and through the door a long room lined with display cases on both sides extends deep into the distance. The polished floor reflects the railing posts like a mirror. There is a signature at the lower left and an inscription of the place and date at the lower right, and the vertical strip at the far right is left almost unworked. Not a single person is drawn in.

BackgroundUntil it moved to its current building in Central Park in 1880, the Metropolitan Museum of Art used a rented mansion on 14th Street as its galleries. Frank Waller (1842–1923), a New York-born painter, made several drawings of its rooms and staircase just before the move, and from them he completed the 1881 oil painting Interior View of the Metropolitan Museum of Art when in Fourteenth Street. This sheet is a 34.0 × 24.8 cm drawing in which the forms are laid in with graphite and touched lightly with white to bring out where the light falls; it came to the museum in 1912 through the Rogers Fund. The site also has Room "M", which redraws the same view in pen and ink with visitors standing at the door, so comparing the two sheets shows what the artist added and took away.

Puzzle tipIt is a colorless pencil drawing, so solve it by light and dark. First fit the pieces crossed by the darkest areas, the bust pedestal and railing posts, and by the straight lines of the door frame, then set the height of the upper area with the sign above the door and the jars on the shelf. The perspective lines of the display cases beyond the door converge on a single point, so join them in that direction. Fill the floor following the diagonals of the floorboards, and leave the blank vertical strip on the right and the outer white border for last. 24 pieces works well.