Maurits Cornelis Escher (Dutch, 1898-1972)

Belvedere, 1958, Lithograph

Like Waterfall, this work was based on an impossible shape, in this case a cube as seen from below. The figures in this print were inspired by the Renaissance quality of the people in Convex Concave, another of his prints. Looking closely we see that the young man sitting at the lower left is holding the impossible figure on which the building is based. This print might also have been influenced by the work of the 18th century printmaker Piranesi. He, too, worked with confusing structures and spatial relationships, particularly in his series of imaginary prisons.

The two storeys of the building lie on different axes, yet they do not appear to have an illogical relationship until we look more closely. This is one of Escher's greatest visual puzzles, and it incorporates his earlier work with Italian landscape in the background.

Anonymous loan.