Clementoni PUZZEL 1000 RISTORANTE TART. -

Perhaps I should say 'days' of fun! If I remember correctly this puzzle of 1000 pieces was classified as 'medium' in terms of difficulty. I'm not an expert and haven't in fact done a jigsaw in years but I bought it as an extra present for the family at Christmas. We all spent hours on it over several days (so it needs its own table) and I was astonished at how much the kids (21 and 24 years) absolutely adored it. It was a real pleasure to be forced to study this well known piece of art in minute detail and amazing to see the kids not glued to their phones!

Let me begin by saying that as a first jigsaw puzzle, I made a mistake in buying this product. The image is VERY subtle, with large dark areas especially in the hair and dress where there are no obvious "landmarks" to spot in the jumble of pieces. But I discovered there's a real kick to be had from the progress made in solving a difficult jigsaw.I had no real jigsaw skills to begin with, and so I spent many hours simply staring at the pieces after assembling the border. I gradually started to separate the pieces out into colours and shapes, and then began to make real progress. At times, I was being guided by the blemishes and craquelure in the painting's varnish! Luckily, the pieces are cut on a regular grid, and therefore there are only the 6 traditional piece types (4 blanks to 4 tabs). Having a second board for the pieces to be laid and grouped was a real boon, and thoroughly recommended.Overall, this puzzle took me an estimated 50 hours over a few weeks, so you'll need a dedicated space. The finished puzzle has been "fixed", framed and hung on the wall as a testament to a real achievement.

Review updated as I can only submit one despite having bought several different puzzles under the same item.----------------------IN GENERALThese Clementoni puzzles are really good quality - the backing board doesn't bend easily, and the image is well bonded to the backing. Pieces only truly fit in the correct location, although I did have a few which required a close look to determine if I had them in the right place. The surface has a linen effect with a bit of a sheen. The printing is very good quality, and the box images really help complete the puzzle. The box is true to the puzzle colours and detailed enough to be able to match up the painting.The surface didn't cause any problems with the lighter areas of paintings, but I did struggle a bit with lighting for the darker areas. I found it best in natural, indirect light, which really helped see the subtle variation of tones. Artificial light over the area I was working on the puzzle made large areas appear fairly flat black which made them more challenging.----------------------MONA LISAWhat I realised as I was completing this puzzle is that there is barely a line in the whole painting. It truly is a masterpiece of shades and tones, some of which are very subtle and need a good eye to spot. I got about 80% completed before I really started to struggle with placing pieces in the darker areas of the hair and robes. At that point I had to start just trying all the possible pieces in a space until I hit on the right one - I was getting a bit bored of it at that point. However, once I had reduced the number of available pieces down to about 100 it became much simpler again to complete.This is definitely a challenging puzzle, and (for me at least) not one that you can expect to complete in just a few hours. However, incredibly satisfying to fit the final piece. It's also much easier to break apart to pack away than some others I've done.----------------------MICHELANGELO - LAST JUDGEMENT (UNIVERSAL JUSTICE)On taking this puzzle out of the box it was clear that it was going to be a challenge as there is an awful lot of sky and skin-tones and not much other colour to differentiate pieces. However, the box image came to the rescue in working out the location of individual characters. I also found it helpful to read the Wikipedia entry on the painting as I could understand more about what was happening in each section. From there it's (just) a matter of patiently working through all the pieces and marveling at the detail and content - it's not really surprising it took Michelangelo 8 years to paint this wall of the Sistine Chapel.----------------------VAN DAEL - STILL LIFE WITH FLOWERSI was anticipating this picture to be a real challenge, but it was actually a really enjoyable puzzle that came together pretty easily. The colours of the various flowers are different enough to be able to put them together without much trouble - helped by the excellent variety of shapes of the pieces. There's very little dark background, and again there is enough difference in tone to be able to work out pretty easily which pieces go top/ bottom/ left/ right, so there was no guessing game aspect to completing the puzzle. Probably one of my favourite jigsaws to complete.----------------------

Good size, well printed and cut. The image is well bonded to the backing card (which is not always the case with jigsaws I find) so quality is good. My only issue is the rather glossy sealer varnish over the image - it distorts some colours and reflects light making assembly more difficult (but not for the right reasons).So, really well printed and cut but I would far rather they used a matt sealer.

Bought this when delayed 37 hours at the airport on the way home from Rome. Started doing it on the floor and random strangers joined my family and me over several hours. Didn't manage to complete it that time but recently tried again and finished it - my first 'proper' jigsaw and now I understand why my mother loved doing them. Have completed three now and Clementoni definitely seem to be the best quality. This is a great picture to work on, just enough repetition to be quite challenging for a beginner. Enjoy!

Unlike other jigsaws I have bought there was no actual size print of the picture nor are there letters on the back to help you so it has been really difficult to get going. Some jigsaw enthusiasts may enjoy the challenge but I am a bit of a novice and enjoy being able to actually find pieces and start to put the picture together using the large picture to help me. This has therefore been more challenging than I was expecting and, at the moment, not particularly rewarding. The quality is not as good as other jigsaws but I guess that has been reflected in the price. It’s a shame as it is a truly wonderful painting.

This is a jigsaw of my favourite painting by Botticelli and was pleased I found one with 3,000 pieces, as I do that size of jigsaw after every Christmas, doing two puzzles of this size. I always record how many days/hours each jigsaw takes and always start with the edge pieces. However, this one was the hardest I have ever done as ALL the edge pieces and subsequent two rows were black! I tried for hours but finally gave up and for the first time did the centre first, then worked out until I finished it. Certainly a challenge, but most enjoyable!