The Scapegoat

1921

M.C. Escher

Associated Names
M.C. Escher

Artist, Dutch, 1898 - 1972

This is a print of four distinct figures arranged in a symmetrical pattern. The artwork is a black and white composition featuring four profiles that are divided by two diagonal lines intersecting at the center of the image. Each quadrant contains a different figure: the upper left quadrant shows a profile of a bearded human man with a halo-like shape surrounding his head, the upper right quadrant shows a silhouette of a horned goat, the lower left quadrant displays another goat, and the lower right quadrant shows a another human head that appears to have horns and pointed ears. The profiles at the top are upright, while the ones at the bottom are upside down. The ones on the left are in white lines on a black background, and the ones on the left are in black lines on a white background.
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Artwork overview

  • Medium

    woodcut on tracing paper

  • Credit Line

    Cornelius Van S. Roosevelt Collection

  • Dimensions

    image: 12 x 9.2 cm (4 3/4 x 3 5/8 in.)
    sheet: 16 x 11.9 cm (6 5/16 x 4 11/16 in.)

  • Accession Number

    1983.109.55

  • Catalogue Raisonné

    Bool 1981, no. 69


Artwork history & notes

Bibliography

1981

  • Bool, F.H. et al. M.C. Escher: His Life and Complete Graphic Work. Amsterdam: Meulenhoff, 1981; English-language edition, New York: Harry N. Abrams, 1982.

Inscriptions

lower left in graphite: M.C.Escher [underlined]

Wikidata ID

Q74045341

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