Check out my other new & used items>>>>>>HERE! (click me)

FOR SALE:

A hard-to-find Thomas Kinkade puzzle that "glows"

2005 CEACO "CANDLELIGHT COTTAGE" GLOW IN THE DARK JIGSAW PUZZLE

DETAILS:

A Kinkade original!

That's right! This special edition jigsaw puzzle has a wonderful glow effect. Thomas Kinkade's Glow In The Dark Series 3 jigsaw puzzle line includes the warm-toned, cool English evening beauty that is "Candlelight Cottage". "The Painter of Light" Thomas Kinkade once again translated his mind's imagination to canvas and gave us a cozy, tucked away stone cottage filled with candle light, and that's surounded with colorful flowers and highlighted with a decorative light post. Kinkade never disappoints when it comes to awe-inspiring beauty. Even from the grave Thomas Kinkade has his luministic works of art simulated and recreated, by the Kinkade Studio, for fans of today and the future to enjoy. "Candlelight Cottage" was painted and published in 1996, that means Kinkade created it himself not his studio "skilled craftsmen". The "Candlelight Cottage" glow-in-the-dark puzzle was released in 2005, almost making this a special 10-year anniversary product.

Dimensions:

Assembled: 20" X 27" (51 cm X 69 cm)

A must-have for the Kinkade enthusiast and fanatic!

You have many lovely Thomas Kinkade puzzles but do you have a glow-in-the-dark Thomas Kinkade puzzle? It's a must-have, must complete, and must see. Already collected Series 1 & 2 of the Glow In The Dark special edition Thomas Kinkade jigsaw puzzles? Well, you're going to need Series 3 which "Candlelight Cottage" is part of and here it is.

A retired Thomas Kinkade product!

Released in 2005 as part of the Glow In The Dark Series 3 line of Thomas Kinkade jigsaw puzzles. This puzzle and box design have since been retired. The glow version puzzle of "Candlelight Cottage" can be difficult to find today. It seems once retired (no longer in production) the glow-in-the-dark "Candlelight Cottage" became a rare Thomas Kinkade puzzle/product.

CONDITION:

In good, pre-owned condition and complete. Due to use many of the pieces have visible wear. Putting the puzzle together multiple times over the years has resulted in the print top layer chipping off and showing the white underlayer - this doesn't disturb the glow effect. The box has visible wear as well. A black light was used in photos #1 & #5. Lamps were used to charge the puzzle for regular glow photos. Please see photos.

To ensure safe delivery all items are carefully packaged before shipping out.

THANK YOU FOR LOOKING. QUESTIONS? JUST ASK.

*ALL PHOTOS AND TEXT ARE INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY OF SIDEWAYS STAIRS CO. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.*

"William Thomas Kinkade III (January 19, 1958 – April 6, 2012)[2][3] was an American painter of popular realistic, pastoral, and idyllic subjects.[3] He is notable for achieving success during his lifetime with the mass marketing of his work as printed reproductions and other licensed products by means of the Thomas Kinkade Company. According to Kinkade's company, one in every twenty American homes owned a copy of one of his paintings.[4]

Kinkade described himself as a "Painter of Light", a phrase he protected by trademark, but which was earlier used to describe the English artist J. M. W. Turner (1775–1851).[5]

Kinkade was criticized for some of his behavior and business practices; art critics faulted his work for being "kitsch". Kinkade died of "acute intoxication" from alcohol and the drug diazepam at the age of 54.
Early life and education

William Thomas Kinkade was born on January 19, 1958, in Sacramento County, California.[6] He grew up in the town of Placerville, graduated from El Dorado High School in 1976, and attended the University of California, Berkeley, and Art Center College of Design in Pasadena.[1]

Some of the people who mentored and taught Kinkade prior to college were Charles Bell and Glenn Wessels.[1] Wessels encouraged Kinkade to go to the University of California at Berkeley. Kinkade's relationship with Wessels is the subject of a semi-autobiographical movie released during 2008, Christmas Cottage. After two years of general education at Berkeley, Kinkade transferred to the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena.
Career

During June 1980, Kinkade spent a summer traveling across the United States with his college friend James Gurney. The two of them finished their journey in New York and secured a contract with Guptill Publications to produce a sketching handbook. Two years later they produced a book, The Artist's Guide to Sketching,[1] which was one of Guptill Publications' best-sellers that year.

The success of the book resulted in both working for Ralph Bakshi Studios where they created background art for the 1983 animated feature movie Fire and Ice. While working on the movie, Kinkade began to explore the depiction of light and of imagined worlds.

After the movie, Kinkade worked as a painter, selling his originals in galleries throughout California.
Artistic themes and style

Recurring features of Kinkade's paintings are their glowing colors and pastel colors. Rendered with idealistic values of American scene painting, his works often portray bucolic and idyllic settings such as gardens, streams, stone cottages, lighthouses and Main Streets. His hometown of Placerville (where his works are much displayed) was the inspiration for many of his street and snow scenes. He also depicted various Christian themes including the Christian cross and churches.

Kinkade said he was emphasizing the value of simple pleasures and that his intent was to communicate inspirational messages through his paintings. A self-described "devout Christian" (even giving all four of his children the middle name "Christian"[7]), Kinkade believed he gained his inspiration from his religious beliefs and that his work was intended to include a moral dimension. Many pictures include specific chapter-and-verse allusions to Bible passages.

Kinkade said, "I am often asked why there are no people in my paintings,"[8] but in 2009 he painted a portrait of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway for the cover of that year's Indianapolis 500 race program that included details of the crowd, hiding among them the figures of Norman Rockwell and Dale Earnhardt. He also painted the farewell portrait for Yankee Stadium.[9][10] Concerning the Indianapolis Motor Speedway painting, Kinkade said:

    The passion I have is to capture memories, to evoke the emotional connection we have to an experience. I came out here and stood up on the bleachers and looked around, and I saw all the elements of the track. It was empty at the time. But I saw the stadium, how the track laid out, the horizon, the skyline of Indianapolis and the Pagoda. I saw it all in my imagination. I began thinking, 'I want to get this energy — what I call the excitement of the moment — into this painting.' As I began working on it, I thought, 'Well you have this big piece of asphalt, the huge spectator stands; I've got to do something to get some movement.' So I just started throwing flags into it. It gives it kind of a patriotic excitement.[9]

Artist and Guggenheim Fellow Jeffrey Vallance has spoken about Kinkade's devout religious themes and their reception in the art world:[11]

    This is another area that the contemporary art world has a hard time with, that I find interesting. He expresses what he believes and puts that in his art. That is not the trend in the high-art world at the moment, the idea that you can express things spiritually and be taken seriously ... It is always difficult to present serious religious ideas in an art context. That is why I like Kinkade. It is a difficult thing to do.

Essayist Joan Didion is a representative critic of Kinkade's style:[12]

    A Kinkade painting was typically rendered in slightly surreal pastels. It typically featured a cottage or a house of such insistent coziness as to seem actually sinister, suggestive of a trap designed to attract Hansel and Gretel. Every window was lit, to lurid effect, as if the interior of the structure might be on fire.

Didion also compared the "Kinkade Glow" to the luminism of 19th-century painter Albert Bierstadt, who sentimentalized the infamous Donner Pass in his Donner Lake from the Summit.[13] Didion saw "unsettling similarities" between the two painters, and worried that Kinkade's treatment of the Sierra Nevada, The Mountains Declare His Glory, similarly ignored the tragedy of the forced dispersal of Yosemite's Sierra Miwok Indians during the Gold Rush, by including an imaginary Miwok camp as what he calls "an affirmation that man has his place, even in a setting touched by God's glory."[12]

Mike McGee, director of the CSUF Grand Central Art Center at California State University, Fullerton, wrote of the Thomas Kinkade Heaven on Earth exhibition:[14]

    Looking just at the paintings themselves it is obvious that they are technically competent. Kinkade's genius, however, is in his capacity to identify and fulfill the needs and desires of his target audience—he cites his mother as a key influence and archetypal audience — and to couple this with savvy marketing ... If Kinkade's art is principally about ideas, and I think it is, it could be suggested that he is a Conceptual artist. All he would have to do to solidify this position would be to make an announcement that the beliefs he has expounded are just Duchampian posturing to achieve his successes. But this will never happen. Kinkade earnestly believes in his faith in God and his personal agenda as an artist.

Authenticity

Kinkade's production method has been described as "a semi-industrial process in which low-level apprentices embellish a prefab base provided by Kinkade."[15] Kinkade reportedly designed and painted all of his works, which were then moved into the next stage of the process of mass-producing prints. It is assumed he created most of the original, conceptual work that he produced. However, he also employed a number of studio assistants to help create multiple prints of his famous oils. Thus while it is believed that Kinkade designed and painted all of his original paintings, the ones collectors were likely to own were printed factory-like and touched up with manual brush strokes by someone other than Kinkade.[16]

Kinkade is reportedly one of the most counterfeited artists, in large part because of advances in affordable, high resolution digital photography and printing technology. Additionally, mass-produced hand-painted fakes from countries such as China and Thailand abound in the U.S. and around the globe. In 2011, the Kinkade studio said that Kinkade was the most collected artist in Asia but received no income from those regions because of widespread forgery.[17]
Business

Kinkade's works are sold by mail order and in dedicated retail outlets. Some of the prints also feature light effects that are painted onto the print surface by hand by "skilled craftsmen," touches that add to the illusion of light and the resemblance to an original work of art, and which are then sold at greater prices. Licensing with Hallmark and other corporations has made it possible for Kinkade's images to be used extensively for other merchandise such as calendars, jigsaw puzzles, greeting cards, and CDs. By December 2009, his images also appeared on Walmart gift cards.[citation needed]

Kinkade was reported to have earned $53 million for his artistic work during the period 1997 to May 2005.[18] About 2000, there was a national network of several hundred Thomas Kinkade Signature Galleries; however, they began to falter during the late-2000s recession. During June 2010, his Morgan Hill, California manufacturing operation that reproduced the art filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, listing nearly $6.2 million in creditors' claims.[19] The company, Pacific Metro, planned to reduce its costs by outsourcing much of its manufacturing.[20]
Criticism and controversy
Reception

Although Kinkade was among the most commercially successful painters of the 1990s, his work has been criticized negatively by art critics.[19][21][22] Soon after news of Kinkade's death in April 2012, author Susan Orlean termed his passing the death of a "kitsch master".[23] During the same month, journalist Laura Miller lampooned Kinkade's work as "a bunch of garish cottage paintings".[24]

Kinkade was criticized for the extent to which he commercialized his art, for example, by selling his prints on the QVC home shopping network. Some academics expressed concerns about the implications of Kinkade's success in relation to Western perceptions of visual art: in 2009, Nathan Rabin of The A.V. Club wrote, "To his detractors, he represents the triumph of sub-mediocrity and the commercialization and homogenization of painting [...] perhaps no other painter has been as shameless or as successful at transforming himself into a corporation as Kinkade."[25] Among such people, he is known more as a "mall artist" or a "chocolate box artist"[8] than as a merited painter. Rabin later described Kinkade's paintings collectively as "a maudlin, sickeningly sentimental vision of a world where everything is as soothing as a warm cup of hot chocolate with marshmallows on a cold December day".[26]

In a 2001 interview, Kinkade said, "I am really the most controversial artist in the world."[27]
Business practices

Kinkade's company, Media Arts Group Inc., was accused of unfair dealings with owners of Thomas Kinkade Signature Gallery franchises. In 2006, an arbitration board awarded Karen Hazlewood and Jeffrey Spinello $860,000 in damages and $1.2 million in fees and expenses due to Kinkade's company "[failing] to disclose material information" that would have discouraged them from investing in the gallery.[28][29][30] The award was later increased to $2.8 million with interest and legal fees.[31] The plaintiffs and other former gallery owners also made accusations of being pressured to open additional galleries that were not viable financially, being forced to accept expensive, unsalable inventory, and being undersold by discount outlets the prices of which they were not allowed to match.[32] Kinkade denied the accusations, and Media Arts Group had defended itself successfully in previous suits by other former gallery owners. Kinkade himself was not singled out in the finding of fraud by the arbitration board.[29] In August 2006, the Los Angeles Times reported that the FBI was investigating these issues, with agents from offices across the country conducting interviews.[33]

Former gallery dealers also charged that the company used Christianity to take advantage of people. "They really knew how to bait the hook," said one ex-dealer who spoke on condition of anonymity. "They certainly used the Christian hook."[34] One former dealer's lawyer stated, "Most of my clients got involved with Kinkade because it was presented as a religious opportunity. Being defrauded is awful enough, but doing it in the name of God is really despicable."[35] On June 2, 2010, Pacific Metro, the artist's production company, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, one day after defaulting on a $1 million court-imposed payment to the aforementioned Karen Hazlewood and Jeffrey Spinello.[31] A $500,000 payment had been disbursed previously.

From 1997 through 2005, court documents show at least 350 independently owned Kinkade franchises. By May 2005, that number had more than halved. Kinkade received $50 million during this period.[31] An initial cash investment of $80,000 to $150,000 is listed as a startup cost for franchisees.[36]
Personal conduct

The Los Angeles Times reported that some of Kinkade's former colleagues, employees, and even collectors of his work said that he had a long history of cursing and heckling other artists and performers. The Times further reported that he openly fondled a woman's breasts at a South Bend, Indiana sales event, and alleged his proclivity for ritual territory marking by urination, once relieving himself on a Winnie the Pooh figure at the Disneyland Hotel in Anaheim while saying, "This one's for you, Walt."[37][38] In a letter to licensed gallery owners acknowledging he might have behaved badly during a stressful time when he overindulged in food and drink, Kinkade said accounts of the alcohol-related incidents included "exaggerated, and in some cases outright fabricated personal accusations". The letter did not address any incident specifically.[38]

In 2006, John Dandois, Media Arts Group executive, recounted a story that on one occasion six years previously, Kinkade became drunk at a Siegfried & Roy magic show in Las Vegas and began shouting "Codpiece! Codpiece!" at the performers. Eventually he was calmed by his mother.[37] Dandois also said of Kinkade, "Thom would be fine, he would be drinking, and then all of a sudden, you couldn't tell where the boundary was, and then he became very incoherent, and he would start cussing and doing a lot of weird stuff."[37] In June 2010, Kinkade was arrested in Carmel, California, for driving while under the influence of alcohol. He was later convicted.[19][39][40]
Related projects and partnerships

Kinkade was selected by a number of organizations to celebrate anniversaries, including Disneyland's 50th anniversary, Walt Disney World Resort's 35th anniversary, Elvis Presley's purchase of Graceland 50 years previously and the 25th anniversary of its opening to the public, and Yankee Stadium's farewell 85th season in 2008. Kinkade also paid tribute to Fenway Park.[41]

Kinkade was the artist chosen to depict the historic Biltmore House; he also created the commemorative portrait of the 50th running of the Daytona 500 during 2008.[41]

During 2001, Media Arts unveiled "The Village at Hiddenbrooke," a Kinkade-themed community of homes, built outside of Vallejo, California, in partnership with the international construction company Taylor Woodrow. Salon's Janelle Brown visited the community and found it to be "the exact opposite of the Kinkadeian ideal. Instead of quaint cottages, there's generic tract housing; instead of lush landscapes, concrete patios; instead of a cozy village, there's a bland collection of homes with nothing—- not a church, not a cafe, not even a town square—- to draw them together."[42]
Charities and affiliations

Kinkade donated to non-profit organizations concerned with children, humanitarian relief, and the arts, including the Make-a-Wish Foundation, World Vision, Art for Children Charities, and the Salvation Army. During 2002, he partnered with the Salvation Army to create two charity prints, The Season of Giving and The Light of Freedom. Proceeds from the sale of the prints were donated to the Salvation Army for their relief efforts at the World Trade Center site and to aid the victims of the September 11 attacks and their families in New York City, Pennsylvania, and Washington D.C. More than $2 million was donated as a result of this affiliation.[43]

In 2003, Kinkade was chosen as a National Spokesman for the Make-A-Wish Foundation, and during the 20 Years of Light Tour in 2004, he raised more than $750,000 and granted 12 wishes for children with life-threatening medical conditions.[44]

In 2005, the Points of Light Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to engaging more people more effectively in volunteer service to help solve serious social problems, named Kinkade as "Ambassador of Light". He was the second person in the Foundation's 15-year history to be chosen as Ambassador, the first being the organization's founder, former U.S. President George H. W. Bush.[41] During his Ambassador of Light Tour, Kinkade visited cities nationwide to increase awareness and raise money for the Points of Light Foundation and the Volunteer Center National Network, which serves more than 360 Points of Light member Volunteer Centers in communities across the country.[45]

Archbishop Mitty High School of San Jose dedicated the "Thomas Kinkade Center for the Arts" in 2003.[46]

Kinkade was reportedly a member of the Church of the Nazarene.[47]
Awards and recognition

Kinkade received many awards for his works, including multiple National Association of Limited Edition Dealers (NALED) awards for Artist of the Year and Graphic Artist of the Year, and his art was named Lithograph of the Year nine times.[41]

In 2002, Kinkade was inducted into the California Tourism Hall of Fame as an individual who had influenced the public's perception of tourism in California through his images of California sights. He was selected along with fellow artists Simon Bull and Howard Behrens to commemorate the 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Olympics and the 2002 World Series. He was also honored with the 2002 World Children's Center Humanitarian Award for his contributions to improving the welfare of children and their families through his work with Kolorful Kids and Art for Children.[41]

In 2003, Kinkade was chosen as a national spokesperson for the Make-A-Wish Foundation. In 2004, he was selected for a second time by the Christmas Pageant of Peace to paint the National Christmas Tree in Washington, D.C. The painting, Symbols of Freedom, was the official image for the 2004 Pageant of Peace.[41]

In 2004, Kinkade received an award from NALED recognizing him as the Most Award Winning Artist in the Past 25 Years. In 2005, he was named the NALED Graphic Artist of the Year. He was also recognized for his philanthropic efforts by NALED with the Eugene Freedman Humanitarian Award.[41]
In popular culture

In Heath and Potter's 2004 book The Rebel Sell: Why the Culture Can't Be Jammed, Kinkade's work is described as "so awful it must be seen to be believed".[48] In Dana Spiotta's 2011 novel Stone Arabia, the main character's boyfriend, an art teacher at a private school in Los Angeles, gives her presents of Thomas Kinkade Painter of Light pieces. "When I asked him why Thomas Kinkade, he just said, 'Well, he is America's most successful artist. And a native Californian as well.' Or he would say, 'His name has a trademark — see?' and he would point to the subscript that appeared after his name." The pieces are "deeply hideous" and "kitschy," but for some reason she loves them.[49]

Mat Johnson's 2011 novel Pym includes a parody of Kinkade named Thomas Karvel, "the Master of Light".[50]

A self-produced movie about Kinkade, Thomas Kinkade's Christmas Cottage, was released on DVD in late November 2008. The semi-autobiographical story examines the motivation and inspiration behind his most popular painting, The Christmas Cottage. Jared Padalecki plays Kinkade and Marcia Gay Harden plays his mother. Peter O'Toole plays young Kinkade's mentor, who tells him, "Paint the light, Thomas! Paint the light!."[51][52]

Bob Odenkirk references Thomas Kinkade on his 2014 comedy album Amateur Hour. On the track "The Kids", Odenkirk includes Kinkade's paintings in a litany of things he encourages his children to appreciate when in reality he wants them to reject when they are older.

In the 2017 movie, The House, with Will Ferrell and Amy Poehler, the suburban casino hides their safe behind a large Thomas Kinkade print.[53]
Personal life

Kinkade married Nanette Willey in 1982, and the couple had four daughters: Merritt (b. 1988), Chandler (b. 1991), Winsor (b. 1995) and Everett (b. 1997), all named for famous artists.[1] He and his wife had been separated for more than a year before his death in 2012.[54]
Death and legacy

Kinkade died in his Monte Sereno, California, home on April 6, 2012, at age 54.[2][55] He is buried at Madronia Cemetery in Saratoga, California.

Kinkade's family said initially that he appeared to have died of natural causes.[2] It was reported after an autopsy that he died of "acute intoxication" from alcohol and diazepam (Valium).[56] In corroboration with the autopsy, according to Amy Pinto-Walsh, his girlfriend of 20 months, Kinkade had been at home drinking alcohol the night prior to his death.[57][58] Pinto-Walsh stated that the artist "died in his sleep, very happy, in the house he built, with the paintings he loved, and the woman he loved.”".[59]

Kinkade was survived by his wife, Nanette, who had filed for divorce two years earlier and was traveling in Australia with their daughters: Merritt, Chandler, Winsor and Everett, who later established the Kinkade Family Foundation. Kinkade's brother, Dr. Patrick Kinkade, is a professor in the criminal justice department at Texas Christian University in Fort Worth.[60]

After Kinkade's death, his wife sought a restraining order against his girlfriend to prevent her from publicly releasing information and photos with respect to Kinkade, his marriage, his business, and his personal behavior that "would be personally devastating" to Kinkade's wife.[61] By the end of the year, in December 2012, Nanette Kinkade and Amy Pinto-Walsh announced they had reached a private agreement." (wikipedia.org)

"The pastoral genre of literature, art, or music depicts an idealised form of the shepherd's lifestyle - herding livestock around open areas of land according to the seasons and the changing availability of water and pasture. The target audience is typically an urban one. A pastoral is a work of this genre. A piece of music in the genre is usually referred to as a pastorale.

The genre is also known as bucolic, from the Greek βουκολικόν, from βουκόλος, meaning a cowherd.[1][2]
Literature
Pastoral literature in general
The Young Shepherd, engraving using stipple technique, by Giulio Campagnola, c. 1510

Pastoral is a mode of literature in which the author employs various techniques to place the complex life into a simple one. Paul Alpers distinguishes pastoral as a mode rather than a genre, and he bases this distinction on the recurring attitude of power; that is to say that pastoral literature holds a humble perspective toward nature. Thus, pastoral as a mode occurs in many types of literature (poetry, drama, etc.) as well as genres (most notably the pastoral elegy).

Terry Gifford, a prominent literary theorist, defines pastoral in three ways in his critical book Pastoral. The first way emphasizes the historical literary perspective of the pastoral in which authors recognize and discuss life in the country and in particular the life of a shepherd.[3] This is summed up by Leo Marx with the phrase "No shepherd, no pastoral."[3] The second type of the pastoral is literature that "describes the country with an implicit or explicit contrast to the urban".[3] The third type of pastoral depicts the country life with derogative classifications.[3]

Hesiod's Works and Days presents a 'golden age' when people lived together in harmony with nature. This Golden Age shows that even before the Alexandrian age, ancient Greeks had sentiments of an ideal pastoral life that they had already lost. This is the first example of literature that has pastoral sentiments and may have begun the pastoral tradition. Ovid's Metamorphoses is much like the Works and Days with the description of ages (golden, silver, bronze, iron, and human) but with more ages to discuss and less emphasis on the gods and their punishments. In this artificially constructed world, nature acts as the main punisher. Another example of this perfect relationship between man and nature is evident in the encounter of a shepherd and a goatherd who meet in the pastures in Theocritus' poem Idylls 1. Traditionally, pastoral refers to the lives of herdsmen in a romanticized, exaggerated, but representative way. In literature, the adjective 'pastoral' refers to rural subjects and aspects of life in the countryside among shepherds, cowherds and other farm workers that are often romanticized and depicted in a highly unrealistic manner. The pastoral life is usually characterized as being closer to the golden age than the rest of human life. The setting is a locus amoenus, or a beautiful place in nature, sometimes connected with images of the Garden of Eden.[4] An example of the use of the genre is the short poem by the 15th-century Scottish makar Robert Henryson Robene and Makyne which also contains the conflicted emotions often present in the genre. A more tranquil mood is set by Christopher Marlowe's well known lines from his 1599 The Passionate Shepherd to His Love:

    Come live with me and be my Love,
    And we will all the pleasures prove
    That hills and valleys, dale and field,
    And all the craggy mountains yield.

    There will we sit upon the rocks
    And see the shepherds feed their flocks,
    By shallow rivers, to whose falls
    Melodious birds sing madrigals.

"The Passionate Shepherd to His Love" exhibits the concept of Gifford's second definition of 'pastoral'. The speaker of the poem, who is the titled shepherd, draws on the idealization of urban material pleasures to win over his love rather than resorting to the simplified pleasures of pastoral ideology. This can be seen in the listed items: "lined slippers", "purest gold", "silver dishes", and "ivory table" (lines 13, 15, 16, 21, 23). The speaker takes on a voyeuristic point of view with his love, and they are not directly interacting with the other true shepherds and nature.

Pastoral shepherds and maidens usually have Greek names like Corydon or Philomela, reflecting the origin of the pastoral genre. Pastoral poems are set in beautiful rural landscapes, the literary term for which is "locus amoenus" (Latin for "beautiful place"), such as Arcadia, a rural region of Greece, mythological home of the god Pan, which was portrayed as a sort of Eden by the poets. The tasks of their employment with sheep and other rustic chores is held in the fantasy to be almost wholly undemanding and is left in the background, leaving the shepherdesses and their swains in a state of almost perfect leisure. This makes them available for embodying perpetual erotic fantasies. The shepherds spend their time chasing pretty girls – or, at least in the Greek and Roman versions, pretty boys as well. The eroticism of Virgil's second eclogue, Formosum pastor Corydon ardebat Alexin ("The shepherd Corydon burned with passion for pretty Alexis"), is entirely homosexual.[5]
Pastoral poetry
Georgics Book III, Shepherd with Flocks, Vergil (Vatican Library)

Pastoral literature continued after Hesiod with the poetry of the Hellenistic Greek Theocritus, several of whose Idylls are set in the countryside (probably reflecting the landscape of the island of Cos where the poet lived) and involve dialogues between herdsmen.[6] Theocritus may have drawn on authentic folk traditions of Sicilian shepherds. He wrote in the Doric dialect but the metre he chose was the dactylic hexameter associated with the most prestigious form of Greek poetry, epic. This blend of simplicity and sophistication would play a major part in later pastoral verse. Theocritus was imitated by the Greek poets Bion and Moschus.

The Roman poet Virgil adapted pastoral into Latin with his highly influential Eclogues. Virgil introduces two very important uses of pastoral, the contrast between urban and rural lifestyles and political allegory[7] most notably in Eclogues 1 and 4 respectively. In doing so, Virgil presents a more idealized portrayal of the lives of shepherds while still employing the traditional pastoral conventions of Theocritus. He was the first to set his poems in Arcadia, an idealized location to which much later pastoral literature will refer.

Horace's Epodes, ii Country Joys has "the dreaming man" Alfius, who dreams of escaping his busy urban life for the peaceful country. But as "the dreaming man" indicates, this is just a dream for Alfius. He is too consumed in his career as a usurer to leave it behind for the country.[8]

Later Silver Latin poets who wrote pastoral poetry, modeled principally upon Virgil's Eclogues, include Calpurnius Siculus and Nemesianus and the author(s) of the Einsiedeln Eclogues.

Italian poets revived the pastoral from the 14th century onwards, first in Latin (examples include works by Petrarch, Pontano and Mantuan) then in the Italian vernacular (Sannazaro, Boiardo). The fashion for pastoral spread throughout Renaissance Europe.

Leading French pastoral poets include Marot, a poet of the French court,[9] and Pierre de Ronsard, once called the "prince of poets" in his day.[10][11]
Romantic artist, illustrator and poet William Blake's hand painted print illustrating his pastoral poem "The Shepherd" depicts the pastoral scene of a shepherd watching his flock with a shepherd's crook. This image represents copy B, printed and painted in 1789 and currently held by the Library of Congress.[12]

The first pastorals in English were the Eclogues (c. 1515) of Alexander Barclay, which were heavily influenced by Mantuan. A landmark in English pastoral poetry was Spenser’s The Shepheardes Calender, first published in 1579. Spenser's work consists of twelve eclogues, one for each month of the year, and is written in dialect. It contains elegies, fables and a discussion of the role of poetry in contemporary England. Spenser and his friends appear under various pseudonyms (Spenser himself is "Colin Clout"). Spenser's example was imitated by such poets as Michael Drayton (Idea, The Shepherd's Garland) and William Browne (Britannia's Pastorals). During this period of England's history, many authors explored "anti-pastoral" themes.[13] Two examples of this, Sir Philip Sidney's “The Twenty-Third Psalm” and “The Nightingale”, focus on the world in a very anti-pastoral view. In “The Twenty-Third Psalm,” Nature is portrayed as something we need to be protected from, and in “The Nightingale,” the woe of Philomela is compared to the speaker's own pain. Sidney also wrote Arcadia, which is filled with pastoral descriptions of the landscape. "The Nymph's Reply to the Shepherd" (1600) by Sir Walter Raleigh also comments on the anti-pastoral as the nymph responds realistically to the idealizing shepherd of The Passionate Shepherd to His Love by embracing and explaining the true course of nature and its incompatibility with the love that the Shepherd yearns for with the nymph. Terry Gifford defined the anti-pastoral in his 2012 essay "Pastoral, Anti-Pastoral and Post-Pastoral as Reading Strategies" as an often explicit correction of pastoral, emphasizing "realism" over romance, highlighting problematic elements (showing tensions, disorder and inequalities), challenging literary constructs as false distortions and demythologizing mythical locations such as Arcadia and Shangri-La.[14]

In the 17th century came the Country house poem. Included in this genre is Emilia Lanier's The Description of Cooke-ham in 1611, in which a woman is described in terms of her relationship to her estate and how it mourns for her when she leaves it. In 1616, Ben Jonson wrote To Penshurst, a poem in which he addresses the estate owned by the Sidney family and tells of its beauty. The basis of the poem is a harmonious and joyous elation of the memories that Jonson had at the manor. It is beautifully written with iambic pentameter, a style that Jonson eloquently uses to describe the culture of Penshurst. It includes Pan and Bacchus as notable company of the manor. Pan, Greek god of the Pastoral world, half man and half goat, was connected with both hunting and shepherds; Bacchus was the god of wine, intoxication and ritual madness. This reference to Pan and Bacchus in a pastoral view demonstrates how prestigious Penshurst was, to be worthy in the company with gods.

"A Country Life", another 17th-century work by Katherine Philips, was also a country house poem. Philips focuses on the joys of the countryside and looks upon the lifestyle that accompanies it as being "the first and happiest life, when man enjoyed himself." She writes about maintaining this lifestyle by living detached from material things, and by not over-concerning herself with the world around her. Andrew Marvell's "Upon Appleton House" was written when Marvell was working as a tutor for Lord Fairfax's daughter Mary, in 1651. The poem is very rich with metaphors that relate to religion, politics and history. Similar to Jonson's "To Penshurst", Marvell's poem is describing a pastoral estate. It moves through the house itself, its history, the gardens, the meadows and other grounds, the woods, the river, his Pupil Mary, and the future. Marvell used nature as a thread to weave together a poem centered around man. We once again see nature fully providing for man. Marvell also continuously compares nature to art and seems to point out that art can never accomplish on purpose what nature can achieve accidentally or spontaneously.
Chamberlain's factory, Worcester, c. 1805. Two-handled cup with cover, so a caudle cup type, with pastoral scene.

Robert Herrick's The Hock-cart, or Harvest Home was also written in the 17th century. In this pastoral work, he paints the reader a colorful picture of the benefits reaped from hard work. This is an atypical interpretation of the pastoral, given that there is a celebration of labor involved as opposed to central figures living in leisure and nature just taking its course independently. This poem was mentioned in Raymond Williams', The Country and the City. This acknowledgment of Herrick's work is appropriate, as both Williams and Herrick accentuate the importance of labor in the pastoral lifestyle.

The pastoral elegy is a subgenre that uses pastoral elements to lament a death or loss. The most famous pastoral elegy in English is John Milton's "Lycidas" (1637), written on the death of Edward King, a fellow student at Cambridge University. Milton used the form both to explore his vocation as a writer and to attack what he saw as the abuses of the Church. Also included is Thomas Gray's, "Elegy In a Country Churchyard" (1750).

The formal English pastoral continued to flourish during the 18th century, eventually dying out at the end. One notable example of an 18th-century work is Alexander Pope's Pastorals (1709). In this work Pope imitates Edmund Spenser's Shepheardes Calendar, while utilizing classical names and allusions aligning him with Virgil. In 1717, Pope's Discourse on Pastoral Poetry was published as a preface to Pastorals. In this work Pope sets standards for pastoral literature and critiques many popular poets, one of whom is Spenser, along with his contemporary opponent Ambrose Philips. During this time period Ambrose Philips, who is often overlooked because of Pope, modeled his poetry after the native English form of Pastoral, employing it as a medium to express the true nature and longing of Man. He strove to write in this fashion to conform to what he thought was the original intent of Pastoral literature. As such, he centered his themes around the simplistic life of the Shepherd, and, personified the relationship that humans once had with nature. John Gay, who came a little later was criticized for his poem's artificiality by Doctor Johnson and attacked for their lack of realism by George Crabbe, who attempted to give a true picture of rural life in his poem The Village.

In 1590, Edmund Spenser also composed the famous pastoral epic The Faerie Queene, in which he employs the pastoral mode to accentuate the charm, lushness, and splendor of the poem's (super)natural world. Spenser alludes to the pastoral continuously throughout the work and also uses it to create allegory in his poem, with the characters as well as with the environment, both of which are meant to have symbolic meaning in the real world. It is of six 'books' only, though Spenser intended to write twelve. He wrote the poem primarily to honor Queen Elizabeth. William Cowper addressed the artificiality of the fast-paced city life in his poems Retirement (1782) and The Winter Nosegay (1782). Pastoral nevertheless survived as a mood rather than a genre, as can be seen from such works as Matthew Arnold's Thyrsis (1867), a lament on the death of his fellow poet Arthur Hugh Clough. Robert Burns can be read as a Pastoral poet for his nostalgic portrayals of rural Scotland and simple farm life in To A Mouse and The Cotter's Saturday Night. Burns explicitly addresses the Pastoral form in his Poem on Pastoral Poetry. In this he champions his fellow Scot Allan Ramsey as the best Pastoral poet since Theocritus.

Another subgenre is the Edenic Pastoral, which alludes to the perfect relationship between God, man, and nature in the Garden of Eden. It typically includes biblical symbols and imagery. In 1645 John Milton wrote L'Allegro, which translates as the happy person. It is a celebration of Mirth personified, who is the child of love and revelry. It was originally composed to be a companion poem to, Il Penseroso, which celebrates a life of melancholy and solitude. Milton's, On the Morning of Christ's Nativity (1629) blends Christian and pastoral imagery.
Pastoral epic

Milton is perhaps best known for his epic Paradise Lost, one of the few Pastoral epics ever written. A notable part of Paradise Lost is book IV where he chronicles Satan's trespass into paradise. Milton's iconic descriptions of the garden are shadowed by the fact that we see it from Satan's perspective and are thus led to commiserate with him. Milton elegantly works through a presentation of Adam and Eve’s pastorally idyllic, eternally fertile living conditions and focuses upon their stewardship of the garden. He gives much focus to the fruit bearing trees and Adam and Eve's care of them, sculpting an image of pastoral harmony. However, Milton in turn continually comes back to Satan, constructing him as a character the audience can easily identify with and perhaps even like. Milton creates Satan as character meant to destabilize the audience’s understanding of themselves and the world around them. Through this mode, Milton is able to create a working dialogue between the text and his audience about the ‘truths’ they hold for themselves.
Pastoral romances

Italian writers invented a new genre, the pastoral romance, which mixed pastoral poems with a fictional narrative in prose. Although there was no classical precedent for the form, it drew some inspiration from ancient Greek novels set in the countryside, such as Daphnis and Chloe. The most influential Italian example of the form was Sannazzaro's Arcadia (1504). The vogue for the pastoral romance spread throughout Europe producing such notable works as Bernardim Ribeiro "Menina e Moça" (1554) in Portuguese,[15] Montemayor's Diana (1559) in Spain, Sir Philip Sidney's Arcadia (1590) in England, and Honoré d'Urfé's Astrée (1607–27) in France.
Pastoral plays
Reformation era literature
Overview
British

    Elizabethan

    Welsh Scottish Anglo-Irish

    Metaphysical poets


    English Renaissance theatre

Pastoral Morality History
Tragedy Revenge
Continental
Scandinavian

    vte

A Pastoral (watercolour, 1905) by John Reinhard Weguelin

Pastoral drama also emerged in Renaissance Italy. Again, there was little Classical precedent, with the possible exception of Greek satyr plays. Poliziano's Orfeo (1480) shows the beginnings of the new form, but it reached its zenith in the late 16th century with Tasso's Aminta (1573), Isabella Andreini's Mirtilla (1588), and Guarini's Il pastor fido (1590). John Lyly's Endimion (1579) brought the Italian-style pastoral play to England. John Fletcher's The Faithful Shepherdess, Ben Jonson's The Sad Shepherd and Sidney's The Lady of May are later examples. Some of Shakespeare's plays contain pastoral elements, most notably As You Like It (whose plot was derived from Thomas Lodge's pastoral romance Rosalynde) and The Winter's Tale, of which Act 4 Scene 4 is a lengthy pastoral digression.

The forest in As You Like It can be seen as a place of pastoral idealization, where life is simpler and purer, and its inhabitants live more closely to each other, nature and God than their urban counterparts. However, Shakespeare plays with the bounds of pastoral idealization. Throughout the play, Shakespeare employs various characters to illustrate pastoralism. His protagonists Rosalind and Orlando metaphorically depict the importance of the coexistence of realism and idealism, or urban and rural life. While Orlando is absorbed in the ideal, Rosalind serves as a mediator, bringing Orlando back down to reality and embracing the simplicity of pastoral love. She is the only character throughout the play who embraces and appreciates both the real and idealized life and manages to make the two ideas coexist. Therefore, Shakespeare explores city and country life as being appreciated through the coexistence of the two.
Pastoral music
Further information: Pastorale

Theocritus's Idylls include strophic songs and musical laments, and, as in Homer, his shepherds often play the syrinx, or Pan flute, considered a quintessentially pastoral instrument. Virgil's Eclogues were performed as sung mime in the 1st century, and there is evidence of the pastoral song as a legitimate genre of classical times.

The pastoral genre was a significant influence in the development of opera. After settings of pastoral poetry in the pastourelle genre by the troubadours, Italian poets and composers became increasingly drawn to the pastoral. Musical settings of pastoral poetry became increasingly common in first polyphonic and then monodic madrigals: these later led to the cantata and the serenata, in which pastoral themes remained on a consistent basis. Partial musical settings of Giovanni Battista Guarini's Il pastor fido were highly popular: the texts of over 500 madrigals were taken from this one play alone. Tasso's Aminta was also a favourite. As opera developed, the dramatic pastoral came to the fore with such works as Jacopo Peri's Dafne and, most notably, Monteverdi's L'Orfeo. Pastoral opera remained popular throughout the 17th-century, and not just in Italy, as is shown by the French genre of pastorale héroïque, Englishman Henry Lawes's music for Milton's Comus (not to mention John Blow's Venus and Adonis), and Spanish zarzuela. At the same time, Italian and German composers developed a genre of vocal and instrumental pastorals, distinguished by certain stylistic features, associated with Christmas Eve.

The pastoral, and parodies of the pastoral, continued to play an important role in musical history throughout the 18th and 19th centuries. John Gay may have satirized the pastoral in The Beggar's Opera, but also wrote an entirely sincere libretto for Handel's Acis and Galatea.[16] Rousseau's Le Devin du village draws on pastoral roots, and Metastasio's libretto Il re pastore was set over 30 times, most famously by Mozart. Rameau was an outstanding exponent of French pastoral opera.[17] Beethoven also wrote his famous Pastoral Symphony, avoiding his usual musical dynamism in favour of relatively slow rhythms. More concerned with psychology than description, he labelled the work "more the expression of feeling than [realistic] painting". The pastoral also appeared as a feature of grand opera, most particularly in Meyerbeer's operas: often composers would develop a pastoral-themed "oasis", usually in the centre of their work. Notable examples include the shepherd's "alte Weise" from Wagner's Tristan und Isolde, or the pastoral ballet occupying the middle of Tchaikovsky's The Queen of Spades. The 20th-century continued to bring new pastoral interpretations, particularly in ballet, such as Ravel's Daphis and Chloe, Nijinsky's use of Debussy's Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune, and Stravinsky's Le sacre du printemps and Les Noces.[18]

The Pastorale is a form of Italian folk song still played in the regions of Southern Italy where the zampogna continues to thrive. They generally sound like a slowed down version of a tarantella, as they encompass many of the same melodic phrases. The pastorale on the zampogna can be played by a solo zampogna player, or in some regions can be accompanied by the piffero (also commonly called a ciaramella, 'pipita', or bifora), which is a primitive key-less double reed oboe type instrument.
Pastoral art
Idealised pastoral landscapes appear in Hellenistic and Roman wall paintings. Interest in the pastoral as a subject for art revived in Renaissance Italy, partly inspired by the descriptions of pictures Jacopo Sannazaro included in his Arcadia. The Pastoral Concert in the Louvre attributed to Giorgione or Titian is perhaps the most famous painting in this style. Later, French artists were also attracted to the pastoral, notably Claude, Poussin (e.g. Et in Arcadia ego) and Watteau (in his Fêtes galantes).[19] The Fête champêtre, with scenes of country people dancing was a popular subject in Flemish painting. Thomas Cole has a series of paintings titled The Course of Empire, and the second of these paintings (shown on the right) depicts the perfect pastoral setting." (wikipedia.org)

"Cottagecore is an internet aesthetic popularised by adolescents and young adults celebrating an idealized rural life. Traditionally based on a rural English and European life,[1] it was developed throughout the 2010s[2][3] and was first named cottagecore on Tumblr in 2018.[4] The aesthetic centres on traditional rural clothing, interior design, and crafts such as drawing, baking, and pottery, and is related to similar aesthetic movements such as grandmacore, farmcore, goblincore, and fairycore.[5]

Some sources describe cottagecore as a subculture of Millennials[6] and Generation Z.[7][8][1][6][9] Economic forces and other challenges facing these young people may be a significant driver of this trend, along with these generations' emphasis on sustainability, and the recent trend to work from home (initially during the COVID-19 pandemic).[10]
Aesthetic and lifestyle elements

The tenets of cottagecore can help to satisfy for its proponents a desire for "an aspirational form of nostalgia" as well as an escape from many forms of stress and trauma.[5] The New York Times described it as a reaction to hustle culture and the advent of personal branding.[5] The Guardian called it a "visual and lifestyle movement designed to fetishize the wholesome purity of the outdoors."[10] Cottagecore emphasizes simplicity and the soft peacefulness of the pastoral life as an escape from the dangers of the modern world.[11] It became highly popular on social media during the COVID-19 pandemic.[6][10][12]
Fashion
An embroidery design with colorful floral prints (2016)

An early inspiration for cottagecore fashion is mori girl, which reached popularity in Japan in the late 2000s.[13] While homemade clothing is a feature of cottagecore,[3] products including the 'strawberry dress', a $490 tea dress by Lirika Matoshi, are also associated with the aesthetic.[14][15] Due to the high price of the Matoshi dress, a number of people produced their own versions of the product.[14] Cottagecore clothing often includes long layered dresses.[15]

Analytics company Edited identified that besides floral prints and stripes "Old-world, feminine shapes and details are integral to this aesthetic—milkmaid necklines, puff sleeves, ruffles and prairie-inspired midi dresses."[16][7] Marketing commentators noted that the trend fits with already available '70s-inspired dresses, lace trim, and denim, and complemented the slow fashion trend.[7]
Food and gardening
Self-sufficiency, e.g. baking one's own bread, is integral to cottagecore.

Growing one's own food in one's own garden and baking one's own bread all reflect the philosophy of self-sufficiency of cottagecore, though the aesthetic does not demand living in the countryside.[12][9] Cottagecore gardening is intended to be environmentally friendly, often including permacultural farming practices.[17][18] For example, the cultivation of a variety of perennial and annual native plants (i.e. plants endemic to the areas near one's home) helps attract insects, including bees, and as such promotes biodiversity and increases pollination of food-producing crops.[18]
Other aspects

The aesthetic encourages taking care of oneself physically and mentally.[12] Followers of cottagecore typically purchase secondhand or vintage furniture.[9][19] They may take up hobbies including knitting, crochet, painting, and reading.[20]
Antecedents and cultural context
Pastoral Recreation (1868) by William-Adolphe Bouguereau

While cottagecore arose as a named aesthetic in 2018, similar aesthetics and ideals existed prior to its inception. The ancient Greeks characterised Arcadia as a representation of an idyllic pastoral setting. The Greek poet Theocritus wrote poems about shepherds and shepherdesses in the third century BC, leading to him being often cited as the inventor of pastoral poetry.[21] The market for Theocritus’ work was primarily the educated urban class of Alexandria, Egypt, seeking an escape from the filth, crowding and disease of city life. In the first century BC the Roman poet Virgil’s pastoral poetry was written in response to the violence and chaos of war. However, he expanded the genre by acknowledging contemporary moral and political issues such as war whilst maintaining a distance through the pastoral trope.[21] Pastoral escapism continued to be produced for the courtly audience of the Roman Empire in the format of novels such as Daphnis and Chloe from the second century AD.[21]
Arts and Crafts design for Trellis wallpaper (1862) by William Morris

The fourteenth century Italian Renaissance poet Petrarch was known for his hill-walking and gardening as well as his pastoral poetry.[21] English playwright William Shakespeare wrote two pastoral plays: As You Like It and A Winter’s Tale. Christopher Marlowe’s renowned poem The Passionate Shepherd to His Love inspired a poetic response written by Walter Raleigh, The Nymph's Reply to the Shepherd, in which the speaker observes that Arcadian ideas were fallacies.[21]

In eighteenth-century Europe it was fashionable to build follies, ornamental structures often built in the style of classical architecture or to mimic rustic villages.[22] Marie Antoinette's Hameau de la Reine, a rustic model village, is a primary example of a folly in a pastoral style.

The Arts and Crafts movement of the nineteenth century was an approach to art, architecture, and design that embraced 'folk' styles and techniques as a critique of industrial production.[10]

The counterculture of the 1960s provides perhaps the most significant source of influence for the contemporary cottagecore movement. Many of the subcategories of cottagecore directly invoke the aesthetic of environmentally conscious architectural projects and communes of the era such as Drop City, and embody the radically sustainable, hands-on ethos of publications such as the Whole Earth Catalog. Thrifted furniture and art pieces from the 1960s and '70s are often used to create a comforting, cozy interior space, as are patterns of the era such as paisley and mushroom prints.[23]

There have been similar aesthetics in different countries, such as iki, or detached elegance, from Japan, fernweh, or being somewhere far away and mysterious, from Germany, or hygge, or satisfying comfort, from Denmark.[8]
Contemporary popularity

Prior to the Great Recession, Thomas Kinkade sold millions of copies of his paintings of idyllic cottages.[24]

    Cottagecore is an ideal. It creates a warm feeling when one thinks about how wonderful it would be to live a simpler, more bucolic existence. I started thumbing through my book on Thomas Kinkade, poring over his paintings of cottages and small-town life. I think his tremendous success was related to the feelings these paintings evoke in us.
    — Corky Pickering, "The cottagecore dream during the pandemic"[24]

The movement gained further traction in many online spheres and on social media in 2020 due to the mass quarantining in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.[6][10][25] Networks such as the blogging site Tumblr had a 150% increase in cottagecore posts in the three months from March to May 2020.[7] It spread on Pinterest, a platform for sharing visual ideas.[26] It became popular on TikTok as well,[1][27] with numerous cottagecore enthusiasts sharing videos of themselves living in rural areas, bathing in the forest, or baking bread.[28]

On TikTok, the LGBT+ community has been particularly fond of cottagecore, especially lesbians.[29] Many young women have found a sense of femininity through dressing in a cottagecore aesthetic while still feeling aligned with a modern, in-control woman archetype.[30] The New Yorker asserted that such videos had "evoked a mood of calm, enlightened, prettified productivity."[8] Vox characterized the trend as "the aesthetic where quarantine is romantic instead of terrifying."[4]

Living in the style of cottagecore or simply looking at others doing the same on the Internet was seen as something that could help people de-stress.[31] Speaking to CNN, psychologist Krystine Batcho noted that it should be no surprise nostalgia in general and cottagecore in particular was in vogue during such a stressful time. "Longing for simpler situations, simpler time periods or simpler ways of living is an effort to balance out and to counteract the effects of high intense stress," she said.[12] This was a period when many urban residents questioned whether it was worth living in the cities, and rural life stood up as an appealing alternative.[28]
Taylor Swift enhanced the popularity of cottagecore in 2020 with her eighth studio album, Folklore.

A New York Times article compared cottagecore to the social simulation video game series Animal Crossing being acted out in real life, coinciding with the success of the then-newest entry in the franchise Animal Crossing: New Horizons.[5][10] In July 2021 The Sims 4 released an expansion pack called "Cottage Living", which focuses on floral prints, gardening and tending to animals like chickens and llamas.[32]

In July 2020, American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift released her eighth studio album, Folklore, a critical and commercial success.[33][34] It features songs written during the lockdown.[27] The album's use of cottagecore in its visuals and lyrics has been credited with increasing the aesthetic's popularity.[35][36][37] She continued the aesthetic with its follow-up record, Evermore (2020),[38][39] and applied it to her performance at the 63rd Annual Grammy Awards.[40] The music videos for "Cardigan" and "Willow" both incorporate cottagecore imagery.[41] Other public figures who embraced this style include British actress Millie Bobby Brown,[27] English musician Harry Styles,[9] and English footballer David Beckham.[6]

In the United States, cottagecore became a decorating trend for the 2020 holiday season while the sales of needlework kits skyrocketed.[3] According to the Royal Horticultural Society of the United Kingdom, cottage gardening is a trend for 2021.[18]

China has its own version of cottagecore. Even though the country is rapidly urbanizing as part of economic development, many young people have decided to leave the cities after their university studies for their hometowns in the countryside, where the quality of life has improved thanks to, among other things, the availability of fast Internet access, new roads, and high-speed railways.[42] Among the returning youths are cottagecore-minded architects.[43]
Critiques

According to critics, cottagecore offers an unrealistic, romanticized view of rural life.[5][9][19] Critics note the contrast between idyllic depictions of rural life constructed by the aesthetic and some of the realities of such spaces, such as the effects of rural poverty[12] or sanitation.[19]

Rebecca Jennings, writing for Vox magazine, describes cottagecore and dark academia as "historical aesthetics that evoke conservative values and gender roles" including Eurocentrism and heteronormativity." (wikipedia.org)

"About Us
ceaco Logo

    “There are no extra pieces in the universe. Everyone is here because he or she has a place to fill, and every piece must fit itself into the big jigsaw puzzle.”
     – Deepak Chopra

Welcome to Ceaco! We are so grateful that you have found your “fit” here. Since our start in 1987 we have remained true to our mission: To create high quality, innovative and challenging jigsaw puzzles and to provide hours of family fun.

We pride ourselves on developing and maintaining long standing relationships with some of the finest artists of our time. Our talented team of designers and marketing professionals are always searching the world over for developing trends, emerging artwork, and new technologies involving printing, die cutting, and unique puzzle materials. Our purpose is clear: to continue to be in the forefront of our industry and create a product that combines family entertainment with a distinctive aesthetic.

Count on Ceaco for the most Creative, Exciting, and Colorful products ever!

Thanks and happy puzzling!" (ceaco.com)

"Luminism is an American landscape painting style of the 1850s to 1870s, characterized by effects of light in landscape, through the use of aerial perspective and the concealment of visible brushstrokes. Luminist landscapes emphasize tranquility, and often depict calm, reflective water and a soft, hazy sky. Artists who were most central to the development of the luminist style include Fitz Hugh Lane, Martin Johnson Heade, Sanford Gifford, and John F. Kensett.[1] Painters with a less clear affiliation include Frederic Edwin Church, Jasper Cropsey, Albert Bierstadt, Worthington Whittredge, Raymond Dabb Yelland, Alfred Thompson Bricher, James Augustus Suydam, and David Johnson.[2] Some precursor artists are George Harvey and Robert Salmon.[3]
History
Martin Johnson Heade, Thunder Storm on Narragansett Bay, 1868

The term luminism was introduced by mid-20th-century art historians to describe a 19th-century American painting style that developed as an offshoot of the Hudson River School. The historian John I. H. Baur established an outline of the style in the late 1940s, and he first used the term "luminism" in a 1954 article.[4] The National Gallery of Art's landmark 1980 exhibition American Light: The Luminist Movement, 1825-1875 centered many artists now primarily associated with the Hudson River School, such as Frederic Edwin Church.[5]

As defined by art historian Barbara Novak, luminist artworks tend to stress the horizontal, and demonstrate the artist's close control of structure, tone, and light. The light is generally cool, hard, and non-diffuse; "soft, atmospheric, painterly light is not luminist light". Brushstrokes are concealed in such a way that the painter's personality is minimized. Luminist paintings tend not to be large so as to maintain a sense of timeless intimacy. The picture surface or plane is emphasized in a manner sometimes seen in primitivism. These qualities are present in different amounts depending on the artist, and within a work. Novak states that luminism, of all American art, is most closely associated with transcendentalism. The definitional difficulties have contributed to over-use of the term.[6]

Luminism shares an emphasis on the effects of light with Impressionism. However, the two styles are markedly different. Luminism is characterized by attention to detail and the hiding of brushstrokes, while impressionism is characterized by lack of detail and an emphasis on brushstrokes. Luminism preceded impressionism, and the artists who painted in a luminist style were in no way influenced by Impressionism.
View of the Shrewsbury River, an 1859 luminist painting by John Frederick Kensett

Luminism has also been considered to represent a contemplative perception of nature. According to Earl E. Powell, this would be particularly visible in paintings by John Frederick Kensett, who shifted the visual concern for landscape to an interest in quietism, making pictures of mood that depict a poetic experience of nature. Furthermore, his painting Shrewsbury River would "reduce nature to cryptographic essentials of composition...while rarified veils of light, color, and atmosphere reflected in water offer an experience of silence", a description akin to the sublime.[7][8][9] Similarly, Martin Johnson Heade's painting Thunder Storm on Narragansett Bay would represent the greatness of nature and a feeling of the sublime arising from an intimate engagement with nature.[10]

The artists who painted in this style did not refer to their own work as "luminism", nor did they articulate any common aesthetic philosophy outside of the guiding principles of the Hudson River School. Many art historians find the term "luminism" problematic. J. Gray Sweeney argues that "the origins of luminism as an art-historical term were deeply entwined with the interests of elite collectors, prominent art dealers, influential curators, art historians, and constructions of national identity during the Cold War."[11] Building on Sweeney's work, Alan Wallach has called for a wholesale rethinking of "luminism" as a historical phenomenon.[12]
Contemporary luminism
Communion, oil and metal leaf on panel, by Steven Daluz

Ingredients of luminism – such as majestic skies, calm waters, rarefied light, and other representations of magnificence – have been also appreciated in contemporary American painting.[13] Such a trend is visible in artists like James Doolin, April Gornik. and Steven DaLuz.[14][15][16] The term neoluminism has been suggested in reference to contemporary American luminism.[17][18]

A distilled influence of luminism can be seen in the works of several American experimental filmmakers including James Benning and Sharon Lockhart, particularly in Benning's Ten Skies (2004) and Lockhart's Double Tide (2009)." (wikipedia.org)

"American Regionalism is an American realist modern art movement that included paintings, murals, lithographs, and illustrations depicting realistic scenes of rural and small-town America primarily in the Midwest. It arose in the 1930s as a response to the Great Depression, and ended in the 1940s due to the end of World War II and a lack of development within the movement. It reached its height of popularity from 1930 to 1935, as it was widely appreciated for its reassuring images of the American heartland during the Great Depression.[1] Despite major stylistic differences between specific artists, Regionalist art in general was in a relatively conservative and traditionalist style that appealed to popular American sensibilities, while strictly opposing the perceived domination of French art.[2]
Rise

Before World War II, the concept of Modernism was not clearly defined in the context of American art. There was also a struggle to define a uniquely American type of art.[3] On the path to determining what American art would be, some American artists rejected the modern trends emanating from the Armory Show and European influences particularly from the School of Paris. By rejecting European abstract styles, American artists chose to adopt academic realism, which depicted American urban and rural scenes. Partly due to the Great Depression, Regionalism became one of the dominant art movements in America in the 1930s, the other being Social Realism. At the time, the United States was still a heavily agricultural nation, with a much smaller portion of its population living in industrial cities such as New York City or Chicago.
American Scene Painting

American Scene Painting is an umbrella term for American Regionalism and Social Realism otherwise known as Urban Realism. Much of American Scene Painting conveys a sense of nationalism and romanticism in depictions of everyday American life. This sense of nationalism stemmed from artists' rejection of modern art trends after World War I and the Armory Show. During the 1930s, these artists documented and depicted American cities, small towns, and rural landscapes; some did so as a way to return to a simpler time away from industrialization, whereas others sought to make a political statement and lent their art to revolutionary and radical causes. The works which stress local and small-town themes are often called "American Regionalism", and those depicting urban scenes, with political and social consciousness are called "Social Realism".[4][5] The version that developed in California is known as California Scene Painting.
Grant Wood, American Gothic, 1930, Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL
Regionalist Triumvirate

American Regionalism is best known through its "Regionalist Triumvirate" consisting of the three most highly respected artists of America's Great Depression era: Grant Wood, Thomas Hart Benton, and John Steuart Curry. All three studied art in Paris, but devoted their lives to creating a truly American form of art. They believed that the solution to urban problems in American life and the Great Depression was for the United States to return to its rural, agricultural roots.[4]
Grant Wood
Main article: Grant Wood

Wood, from Anamosa, Iowa, is best known for his painting American Gothic. He also wrote a notable pamphlet titled Revolt Against the City, published in Iowa City in 1935, in which he asserted that American artists and buyers of art were no longer looking to Parisian culture for subject matter and style. Wood wrote that Regional artists interpret the physiography, industry, and psychology of their hometown and that the competition of these preceding elements create American culture. He wrote that the lure of the city was gone, and hoped that part of the widely diffused "whole people" would prevail. He cited Thomas Jefferson's characterization of cities as "ulcers on the body politic."[6]
Thomas Hart Benton
Main article: Thomas Hart Benton (painter)
Thomas Hart Benton, People of Chilmark (Figure Composition), 1920, Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, DC

Benton was a painter, illustrator, and lithographer from Neosho, Missouri, who became widely known for his murals. His subject matter mostly focused on working-class America, while incorporating social criticism. He heavily denounced European modern art despite the fact that he was regarded as a modernist and an abstractionist. When Regionalism lost its popularity in America, Benton got a job as a teacher at the Kansas City Art Institute, where he became a teacher and lifelong father figure for Jackson Pollock. Benton wrote two autobiographies, his first one titled An Artist in America, which described his travels in the United States, and his second, An American in Art, which described his technical development as an artist. Along with being a painter, he was a talented folk musician, and released a record called Saturday Night at Tom Benton's.[7]
John Steuart Curry
Main article: John Steuart Curry

Curry, from Dunavant, Kansas, began as an illustrator of "Wild West" stories, but after more training, he was hired to paint murals for the Department of Justice and the Department of Interior under the Federal Arts Patronage in the New Deal.[8] He had a histrionic, anecdotal style, and believed that art should come from everyday life and that artists should paint what they love. In his case he painted his beloved home in the Midwest.[9] Wood wrote about Curry's style and subject matter of art, stating "It was action he loved most to interpret: the lunge through space, the split second before the kill, the suspended moment before the storm strikes."[10]
American Modernism

A debate over who and what would define American art as Modernism began with the 1913 Armory Show in New York between abstraction and realism. The debate then evolved in the 1930s into the three camps, Regionalism, Social Realism, and abstract art. By the 1940s, Regionalism and Social Realism were placed on the same side of the debate as American Scene Painting, leaving only two camps, that were divided geographically and politically. American Scene Painting was promoted by conservative, anti-Modernist critics such as Thomas Craven, who saw it as a way to defeat the influence of abstraction arriving from Europe. American Scene painters primarily lived in rural areas and created works that were realistic and addressed social, economic and political issues. On the other side of the debate were the abstract artists who primarily lived in New York City and were promoted by pro-Modernist critics, writers and artists such as Alfred Stieglitz.
Decline

When World War II ended, Regionalism and Social Realism lost status in the art world. The end of World War II ushered in a new era of peace and prosperity, and the Cold War brought a change in the political perception of Americans and allowed Modernist critics to gain power. Regionalism and Social Realism also lost popularity among American viewers due to a lack of development within the movement due to the tight constraints of the art to agrarian subject matter. Ultimately, this led to abstract expressionism winning out the title of American Modernism, and becoming the new prominent and popular artistic movement.[11]
Importance

Regionalism limited the spread of abstract art to the East Coast, which allowed American art to gain confidence in itself instead of relying on European styles.[12] With American art fully established, Regionalism then was able to bridge the gap between abstract art and academic realism similarly to how the Impressionists bridged a gap for the Post-Impressionists, like Paul Cézanne, Vincent van Gogh, and Paul Gauguin, in France a generation earlier. Despite the fact that Regionalism developed with the intent of replacing European abstraction with authentic American realism, it became the bridge for American Abstract Expressionism, led by Benton's pupil Jackson Pollock.[12] Pollock's power as an artist was mostly due to the encouragement and influence of Thomas Hart Benton.[11]
Influence
John Steuart Curry, Tragic Prelude, 1938–1940, Kansas State Capitol, Topeka

Norman Rockwell and Andrew Wyeth were the primary successors to Regionalism's natural realism. Rockwell became widely popular with his illustrations of the American family in magazines. Wyeth on the other hand painted Christina's World, which competes with Wood's American Gothic for the title of America's favorite painting.[12]

Regionalism has had a strong and lasting influence on popular culture, particularly in America. It has given America some of its most iconic pieces of art that symbolize the country. Regionalist-type imagery influenced many American children's book illustrators such as Holling Clancy Holling, and still shows up in advertisements, movies, and novels today. Works like American Gothic are commonly parodied around the world. Even John Steuart Curry's mural, Tragic Prelude, which is painted on a wall at the Kansas State Capitol, was featured on the cover of American progressive rock band Kansas' debut album titled Kansas.[13]

Norman Rockwell's Freedom from Want, 1943, was painted during the middle of the United States' involvement in World War II. The painting is comparable with the traditional American Thanksgiving dinner. During this time families around the United States were having to ration food, their sons were sent to fight overseas, and war bonds were being sold by the U.S. Department of the Treasury. Taking inspiration from President Franklin D. Roosevelt's Four Freedoms: State of the Union Address from January 1941, Rockwell would create this work that would be used as propaganda. It would be transformed into prints and appear in four issues of the Saturday Evening Post during 1943, and would be used by the U.S. Department of the Treasury to encourage the selling of war bonds. Through this he was able to reach a much greater audience than many other Regionalist painters would be able to in their time.[14]
Notable paintings

    American Gothic painted by Grant Wood in 1930, now on display at the Art Institute of Chicago. He found inspiration in a Carpenter Gothic-style farm house in Eldon, Iowa, and used his dentist and sister as models for the people.
    Baptism in Kansas painted by John Steuart Curry in 1926, and since 1931 has belonged to the Whitney Museum of American Art. The painting was based on a scene Curry witnessed in 1915 when the creeks were dried up and the only suitable method for baptism was the water tank.
    The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere painted by Grant Wood in 1931, since been sold to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, although it has not been on view since 2017. Woods was inspired by the poem "Paul Revere's Ride" by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.
    Freedom from Want painted by Norman Rockwell in 1943, now a part of the Norman Rockwell Museums permanent collection in Stockbridge, Massachusetts. Rockwell was inspired to paint this, one of a series of four paintings known as the Four Freedoms Series, by United States President Franklin D. Roosevelt's 1941 State of the Union Address, known as Four Freedoms." (wikipedia.org)

"A puzzle is a game, problem, or toy that tests a person's ingenuity or knowledge. In a puzzle, the solver is expected to put pieces together (or take them apart) in a logical way, in order to arrive at the correct or fun solution of the puzzle. There are different genres of puzzles, such as crossword puzzles, word-search puzzles, number puzzles, relational puzzles, and logic puzzles. The academic study of puzzles is called enigmatology.

Puzzles are often created to be a form of entertainment but they can also arise from serious mathematical or logical problems. In such cases, their solution may be a significant contribution to mathematical research.[1]
Etymology

The Oxford English Dictionary dates the word puzzle (as a verb) to the end of the 16th century. Its earliest use documented in the OED was in a book titled The Voyage of Robert Dudley...to the West Indies, 1594–95, narrated by Capt. Wyatt, by himself, and by Abram Kendall, master (published circa 1595). The word later came to be used as a noun, first as an abstract noun meaning 'the state or condition of being puzzled', and later developing the meaning of 'a perplexing problem'. The OED's earliest clear citation in the sense of 'a toy that tests the player's ingenuity' is from Sir Walter Scott's 1814 novel Waverley, referring to a toy known as a "reel in a bottle".[2]

The etymology of the verb puzzle is described by OED as "unknown"; unproven hypotheses regarding its origin include an Old English verb puslian meaning 'pick out', and a derivation of the verb pose.[3]
Genres
Various puzzles
Simple puzzle made of three pieces

Puzzles can be categorized as:

    Lateral thinking puzzles, also called "situation puzzles"
    Mathematical puzzles include the missing square puzzle and many impossible puzzles — puzzles which have no solution, such as the Seven Bridges of Königsberg, the three cups problem, and three utilities problem
        Sangaku (Japanese temple tablets with geometry puzzles)

    A chess problem is a puzzle that uses chess pieces on a chess board. Examples are the knight's tour and the eight queens puzzle.
    Mechanical puzzles or dexterity puzzles such as the Rubik's Cube and Soma cube can be stimulating toys for children or recreational activities for adults.
        combination puzzles like Peg solitaire
        construction puzzles such as stick puzzles
        disentanglement puzzles,
        folding puzzles
        jigsaw puzzles. Puzz 3D is a three-dimensional variant of this type.
        lock puzzles
        A puzzle box can be used to hide something — jewelry, for instance.
        sliding puzzles (also called sliding tile puzzles) such as the 15 Puzzle and Sokoban
        tiling puzzles like Tangram
        Tower of Hanoi

    Metapuzzles are puzzles which unite elements of other puzzles.
    Paper-and-pencil puzzles such as Uncle Art's Funland, connect the dots, and nonograms
        Also the logic puzzles published by Nikoli: Sudoku, Slitherlink, Kakuro, Fillomino, Hashiwokakero, Heyawake, Hitori, Light Up, Masyu, Number Link, Nurikabe, Ripple Effect, Shikaku, and Kuromasu.
    Spot the difference
    Tour puzzles like a maze
    Word puzzles, including anagrams, ciphers, crossword puzzles, Hangman (game), and word search puzzles. Tabletop and digital word puzzles include Bananagrams, Boggle, Bonza, Dabble, Letterpress (video game), Perquackey, Puzzlage, Quiddler, Ruzzle, Scrabble, Upwords, WordSpot, and Words with Friends. Wheel of Fortune (U.S. game show) is a game show centered on a word puzzle.
    Puzzle video games
        Tile-matching video game
        Puzzle-platformer
        Adventure game
        Hidden object game
        Minesweeper

Puzzle solving
   
This section possibly contains original research. Please improve it by verifying the claims made and adding inline citations. Statements consisting only of original research should be removed. (November 2018) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)

Solutions of puzzles often require the recognition of patterns and the adherence to a particular kind of ordering. People with a high level of inductive reasoning aptitude may be better at solving such puzzles than others. But puzzles based upon inquiry and discovery may be solved more easily by those with good deduction skills. Deductive reasoning improves with practice. Mathematical puzzles often involve BODMAS. BODMAS is an acronym and it stands for Bracket, Of, Division, Multiplication, Addition and Subtraction. In certain regions, PEMDAS (Parentheses, Exponents, Multiplication, Division, Addition and Subtraction) is the synonym of BODMAS. It explains the order of operations to solve an expression. Some mathematical puzzles require Top to Bottom convention to avoid the ambiguity in the order of operations. It is an elegantly simple idea that relies, as sudoku does, on the requirement that numbers appear only once starting from top to bottom as coming along.[4]
Puzzle makers

Puzzle makers are people who make puzzles. In general terms of occupation, a puzzler is someone who composes and/or solves puzzles.

Some notable creators of puzzles are:

    Ernő Rubik
    Sam Loyd
    Henry Dudeney
    Boris Kordemsky
    David J. Bodycombe
    Will Shortz
    Oskar van Deventer
    Lloyd King
    Martin Gardner
    Raymond Smullyan

History of jigsaw and other puzzles
Main article: Jigsaw puzzle

Jigsaw puzzles are perhaps the most popular form of puzzle. Jigsaw puzzles were invented around 1760, when John Spilsbury, a British engraver and cartographer, mounted a map on a sheet of wood, which he then sawed around the outline of each individual country on the map. He then used the resulting pieces as an aid for the teaching of geography.[5]

After becoming popular among the public, this kind of teaching aid remained the primary use of jigsaw puzzles until about 1820.[6]

The largest puzzle (40,320 pieces) is made by German game company Ravensburger.[7] The smallest puzzle ever made was created at LaserZentrum Hannover. It is only five square millimeters, the size of a sand grain.

The puzzles that were first documented are riddles. In Europe, Greek mythology produced riddles like the riddle of the Sphinx. Many riddles were produced during the Middle Ages, as well.[8]

By the early 20th century, magazines and newspapers found that they could increase their readership by publishing puzzle contests, beginning with crosswords and in modern days sudoku. " (wikipedia.org)

"A jigsaw puzzle is a tiling puzzle that requires the assembly of often irregularly shaped interlocking and mosaiced pieces, each of which typically has a portion of a picture. When assembled, the puzzle pieces produce a complete picture.

In the 18th century, jigsaw puzzles were created by painting a picture on a flat, rectangular piece of wood, then cutting it into small pieces. Despite the name, a jigsaw was never used. John Spilsbury, a London cartographer and engraver, is credited with commercialising jigsaw puzzles around 1760. His design took world maps, and cut out the individual nations in order for them to be reassembled by students as a geographical teaching aid.[1] They have since come to be made primarily of interlocking cardboard pieces, incorporating a variety of images & designs.

Typical images on jigsaw puzzles include scenes from nature, buildings, and repetitive designs—castles and mountains are common, as well as other traditional subjects. However, any picture can be used. Artisan puzzle-makers and companies using technologies for one-off and small print-run puzzles utilize a wide range of subject matter, including optical illusions, unusual art, and personal photographs. In addition to traditional flat, two-dimensional puzzles, three-dimensional puzzles have entered large-scale production, including spherical puzzles and architectural recreations.

A range of jigsaw puzzle accessories, including boards, cases, frames, and roll-up mats, have become available to assist jigsaw puzzle enthusiasts. While most assembled puzzles are disassembled for reuse, they can also be attached to a backing with adhesive and displayed as art.
History
John Spilsbury's "Europe divided into its kingdoms, etc." (1766). He created the jigsaw puzzle for educational purposes, and called them "Dissected Maps".[2][3]

John Spilsbury is believed to have produced the first jigsaw puzzle around 1760, using a marquetry saw.[1]

Early puzzles, known as dissections, were produced by mounting maps on sheets of hardwood and cutting along national boundaries, creating a puzzle useful for teaching geography.[1] Royal governess Lady Charlotte Finch used such "dissected maps" to teach the children of King George III and Queen Charlotte[4][5] Cardboard jigsaw puzzles appeared in the late 1800s, but were slow to replace wooden ones because manufacturers felt that cardboard puzzles would be perceived as low-quality, and because profit margins on wooden jigsaws were larger.[1]
British printed puzzle from 1874.

The name "jigsaw" came to be associated with the puzzle around 1880 when fretsaws became the tool of choice for cutting the shapes. Since fretsaws are distinct from jigsaws, the name appears to be a misnomer.[1]
Wooden jigsaw pieces, cut by hand

Jigsaw puzzles soared in popularity during the Great Depression, as they provided a cheap, long-lasting, recyclable form of entertainment.[1][6] It was around this time that jigsaws evolved to become more complex and appealing to adults.[1] They were also given away in product promotions and used in advertising, with customers completing an image of the promoted product.[1][6]

Sales of wooden puzzles fell after World War II as improved wages led to price increases, while improvements in manufacturing processes made paperboard jigsaws more attractive.[6]

Demand for jigsaw puzzles saw a surge, comparable to that of the Great Depression, during the COVID-19 pandemic's stay-at-home orders.[7][8]
Modern construction
Paperboard jigsaw pieces

Most modern jigsaw puzzles are made of paperboard as they are easier and cheaper to mass-produce. An enlarged photograph or printed reproduction of a painting or other two-dimensional artwork is glued to cardboard, which is then fed into a press. The press forces a set of hardened steel blades of the desired pattern, called a puzzle die, through the board until fully cut.

The puzzle die is a flat board, often made from plywood, with slots cut or burned in the same shape as the knives that are used. The knives are set into the slots and covered in a compressible material, typically foam rubber, which ejects the cut puzzle pieces.

The cutting process is similar to making shaped cookies with a cookie cutter. However, the forces involved are tremendously greater: A typical 1000-piece puzzle requires upwards of 700 tons of force to push the die through the board.

Beginning in the 1930s, jigsaw puzzles were cut using large hydraulic presses that now cost hundreds of thousands of dollars. The precise cuts gave a snug fit, but the cost limited jigsaw puzzle production to large corporations. Recent roller-press methods achieve the same results at a lower cost.[citation needed]

New technology has also enabled laser-cutting of wooden or acrylic jigsaw puzzles. The advantage is that the puzzle can be custom-cut to any size or shape, with any number or average size of pieces. Many museums have laser-cut acrylic puzzles made of some of their art so visiting children can assemble puzzles of the images on display. Acrylic pieces are very durable, waterproof, and can withstand continued use without the image degrading. Also, because the print and cut patterns are computer-based, missing pieces can easily be remade.

By the early 1960s, Tower Press was the world's largest jigsaw puzzle maker; it was acquired by Waddingtons in 1969.[9] Numerous smaller-scale puzzle makers work in artisanal styles, handcrafting and handcutting their creations.[10][11][12][13]
Variations
Jigsaw puzzle software allowing rotation of pieces
A three-dimensional puzzle composed of several two-dimensional puzzles stacked on top of one another
A puzzle without a picture

Jigsaw puzzles come in a variety of sizes. Among those marketed to adults, 300-, 500- and 750-piece puzzles are considered "smaller". More sophisticated, but still common, puzzles come in sizes of 1,000, 1,500, 2,000, 3,000, 4,000, 5,000, 6,000, 7,500, 8,000, 9,000, 13,200, 18,000, 24,000, 32,000 and 40,000 pieces.

Jigsaw puzzles geared towards children typically have many fewer pieces and are typically much larger. For very young children, puzzles with as few as 4 to 9 large pieces (so as not to be a choking hazard) are standard. They are usually made of wood or plastic for durability and can be cleaned without damage.

The most common layout for a thousand-piece puzzle is 38 pieces by 27 pieces, for an actual total of 1,026 pieces. Most 500-piece puzzles are 27 pieces by 19 pieces. A few puzzles are double-sided so they can be solved from either side—adding complexity, as the enthusiast must determine if they are looking at the right side of each piece.

"Family puzzles" of 100–550 pieces use an assortment of small, medium and large pieces, with each size going in one direction or towards the middle of the puzzle. This allows a family of different skill levels and hand sizes to work on the puzzle together. Companies like Springbok, Cobble Hill, Ceaco, Buffalo Games and Suns Out make this type of specialty puzzle. Ravensburger, on the other hand, formerly made this type of puzzle from 2000 until 2008.

There are also three-dimensional jigsaw puzzles. Many are made of wood or styrofoam and require the puzzle to be solved in a particular order, as some pieces will not fit if others are already in place. One type of 3-D jigsaw puzzle is a puzzle globe, often made of plastic. Like 2-D puzzles, the assembled pieces form a single layer, but the final form is three-dimensional. Most globe puzzles have designs representing spherical shapes such as the Earth, the Moon, and historical globes of the Earth.

Also common are puzzle boxes, simple three-dimensional puzzles with a small drawer or box in the center for storage.

Jigsaw puzzles can vary significantly in price depending on their complexity, number of pieces, and brand. In the US, children's puzzles can start around $5, while larger ones can be closer to $50. The most expensive puzzle to date was sold for $US27,000 in 2005 at a charity auction for The Golden Retriever Foundation.[14]

Several word-puzzle games use pieces similar to those in jigsaw puzzles. Examples include Alfa-Lek, Jigsaw Words, Nab-It!, Puzzlage, Typ-Dom, Word Jigsaw, and Yottsugo.[15][citation needed]
Puzzle pieces
A "whimsy" piece in a wooden jigsaw puzzle
A 3D jigsaw puzzle

Many puzzles are termed "fully interlocking", which means that adjacent pieces are connected so that they stay attached when one is turned. Sometimes the connection is tight enough to pick up a solved part by holding one piece.

Some fully interlocking puzzles have pieces of a similar shape, with rounded tabs (interjambs) on opposite ends and corresponding indentations—called blanks—on the other two sides to receive the tabs. Other fully interlocking puzzles may have tabs and blanks variously arranged on each piece; but they usually have four sides, and the numbers of tabs and blanks thus add up to four. Uniformly shaped fully interlocking puzzles, sometimes called "Japanese Style", are the most difficult because the differences in the pieces' shapes are most subtle.[citation needed]

Most jigsaw puzzles are square, rectangular or round, with edge pieces with one straight or smoothly curved side, plus four corner pieces (if the puzzle is square or rectangular). However, some puzzles have edge, and corner pieces cut like the rest, with no straight sides, making it more challenging to identify them. Other puzzles utilize more complex edge pieces to form unique shapes when assembled, such as profiles of animals.

The pieces of spherical jigsaw, like immersive panorama jigsaw, can be triangular-shaped, according to the rules of tessellation of the geoid primitive.

Designer Yuu Asaka created "Jigsaw Puzzle 29". Instead of four corner pieces, it has five. The puzzle is made from pale blue acrylic without a picture.[16] It was awarded the Jury Honorable Mention of 2018 Puzzle Design Competition.[17] Because many puzzlers had solved it easily, he created "Jigsaw Puzzle 19" which composed only with corner pieces as revenge.[18] It was made with transparent green acrylic pieces without a picture.[19]
Calculating the number of edge pieces

Jigsaw puzzlers often want to know in advance how many border pieces they are looking for to verify they have found all of them. Puzzle sizes are typically listed on commercially distributed puzzles but usually include the total number of pieces in the puzzle and do not list the count of edge or interior pieces.

Puzzlers, therefore, calculate the number of border pieces. To calculate B (border pieces) from P (the total piece count), follow this method:

    List the prime factors of P.

        For a 513-piece jigsaw, the prime factorization tree is 3×3×3×19=513

    Take the square root of P and round off.

        √513 ≈ 22.6
        round to 23

    Look for numbers in the prime factor list within ±20% of the square root of P.
        Calculate 20% of the rounded square root of P.

            1⁄5 × 23 = 4.6

        Develop the range, ±20%, from the rounded square root of P.

            23 ±4.6 = 18.4 to 27.6

        Compare the range with the factor list. Define this as E1.

            The factor list shows 19 in the range.

    Determine the horizontal / vertical dimensions.
        Divide P (the total number of pieces) by E1 to determine the horizontal / vertical dimensions, E1xE2.

            513 / 19 = 27
            This is probably a 19×27 puzzle.

        Alternative method: take the remaining numbers from the prime factorization tree.

            3x3x3 = 27

    Add the four sides and subtract 4 to correct for the corner pieces, which would otherwise be counted in both the horizontal and vertical.

        (27 × 2)+(19 × 2)-4 = 88

These 88 border pieces include 4 corners, 17 pieces between corners on the short sides, and 25 between corners on the long sides.

Common puzzle dimensions:

    1000 piece puzzle: 1026 pieces, 126 border pieces (38x27)[20]

World records
Largest commercially available jigsaw puzzles
Pieces     Name of puzzle     Company     Year     Size [cm]     Area [m2]
60,000     What A Wonderful World     Dowdle Folk Art     2022     883 × 243     21.46
54,000     Travel around Art     Grafika     2020     864 × 204     17.63
52,110     (No title: collage of animals)     MartinPuzzle     2018     696 × 202     14.06
51,300     27 Wonders from Around the World     Kodak     2019     869 × 191     16.60
48,000     Around the World     Grafika     2017     768 × 204     15.67
42,000     La vuelta al Mundo     Educa Borras     2017     749 × 157     11.76
40,320     Making Mickey's Magic     Ravensburger     2018     680 × 192     13.06
40,320     Memorable Disney Moments     Ravensburger     2016     680 × 192     13.06
33,600     Wild Life     Educa Borras     2014     570 × 157     8.95
32,000     New York City Window     Ravensburger     2014     544 × 192     10.45
32,000     Double Retrospect     Ravensburger     2010     544 × 192     10.45
24,000     Life, The greatest puzzle     Educa Borras     2007     428 × 157     6.72
Largest-sized jigsaw puzzles

The world's largest-sized jigsaw puzzle measured 5,428.8 m2 (58,435 sq ft) with 21,600 pieces, each measuring a Guinness World Records maximum size of 50 cm by 50 cm. It was assembled on 3 November 2002 by 777 people at the former Kai Tak Airport in Hong Kong.[21]
Largest jigsaw puzzle – most pieces
The Guinness record of CYM Group in 2011 with 551,232 pieces

The jigsaw with the greatest number of pieces had 551,232 pieces and measured 14.85 × 23.20 m (48 ft 8.64 in × 76 ft 1.38 in). It was assembled on 25 September 2011 at Phú Thọ Indoor Stadium in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, by students of the University of Economics, Ho Chi Minh City. It is listed by the Guinness World Records for the "Largest Jigsaw Puzzle – most pieces", but as the intact jigsaw had been divided into 3,132 sections, each containing 176 pieces, which were reassembled and then connected, the claim is controversial.[22][23]
Society

The logo of Wikipedia is a globe made out of jigsaw pieces. The incomplete sphere symbolizes the room to add new knowledge.[citation needed]

In the logo of the Colombian Office of the Attorney General appears a jigsaw puzzle piece in the foreground. They named it "The Key Piece": "The piece of a puzzle is the proper symbol to visually represent the Office of the Attorney General because it includes the concepts of search, solution and answers that the entity pursues through the investigative activity."[24]
Art and entertainment

The central antagonist in the Saw film franchise is nicknamed Jigsaw,[25] due to his practice of cutting the shape of a puzzle piece from the remains of his victims.

In the 1933 Laurel and Hardy short Me and My Pal, several characters attempt to complete a large jigsaw puzzle.[26]

Lost in Translation is a poem about a child putting together a jigsaw puzzle, as well as an interpretive puzzle itself.

Life: A User's Manual, Georges Perec's most famous novel, tells as pieces of a puzzle a story about a jigsaw puzzle maker.

Jigsaw Puzzle (song), sometimes spelled "Jig-Saw Puzzle" is a song by the rock and roll band The Rolling Stones, featured on their 1968 album Beggars Banquet.

In ‘‘Citizen Kane‘’ Susan Alexander Kane (Dorothy Comingore) is reduced to spending her days completing jigsaws after the failure of her operatic career. After Kane’s death when ‘’Xanadu’’ is emptied, hundreds of jigsaw puzzles are discovered in the cellar.

Rhett And Link Do A Rainy Day Jigsaw Puzzle is a short video by self-described “internetainers” (portmanteau of “Internet” and “entertainers”) Rhett & Link which portrays the frustration of discovering a puzzle piece is missing.
Mental health

According to the Alzheimer Society of Canada, doing jigsaw puzzles is one of many activities that can help keep the brain active and may reduce the risk of Alzheimer's disease.[27]
An "autism awareness" ribbon, featuring red, blue, and yellow jigsaw pieces

Jigsaw puzzle pieces were first used as a symbol for autism in 1963 by the United Kingdom's National Autistic Society.[28] The organization chose jigsaw pieces for their logo to represent the "puzzling" nature of autism and the inability to "fit in" due to social differences, and also because jigsaw pieces were recognizable and otherwise unused.[29] Puzzle pieces have since been incorporated into the logos and promotional materials of many organizations, including the Autism Society of America and Autism Speaks.

Proponents of the autism rights movement oppose the jigsaw puzzle iconography, stating that metaphors such as "puzzling" and "incomplete" are harmful to autistic people. Critics of the puzzle piece symbol instead advocate for a gold-colored or red infinity symbol representing diversity.[30] In 2017, the journal Autism concluded that the use of the jigsaw puzzle evoked negative public perception towards autistic individuals. They removed the puzzle piece from their cover in February 2018." (wikipedia.org)