It's from a painting of Midsummer Night's Dream by William Shakespeare but I haven't been able to find out who the painter was.
There is a glare from the camera flash but you get the idea.
My daughter tried to work on it but soon got discouraged or maybe the interest soon waned away to make room for boy interest. Who knows. I tried to help sort the pieces by color and put them in low boxes but it was taking so long to find a piece that soon everyone gave up.
The puzzle just was getting nowhere and fearing that the dog would soon chew some pieces, I gathered the pieces and brought them into my bedroom and kept the door shut. Since I have a rather large bedroom I got my husband to put a sheet of plywood on top of four chairs and I started to assemble the border. To show my kids that with patience and perseverance, you can achieve what seems impossible, I worked on it every day and every time I put a piece in I would make a mark and when I had five in I made the diagonal line across just to encourage my progress. I worked on it for a whole winter and thoroughly enjoyed myself. I always thought that surely there were some pieces missing since the puzzle was where the dog could have easily destroyed pieces that might have fallen on the floor by accident. But luckily there were non-missing. I had more free time then.
Soon it became a Christmas boxing day tradition that the whole family even the grandkids enjoyed. Years later the tradition still exists and the girls still get around the table even into the wee hours until the puzzle is finished while having glasses of wine and chatting.
Now this beautiful puzzle is hanging in our home office and I still love to look at it and remember that perseverance and patience are some of my God-given gifts for which I'm very thankful. JB.
