Belvedere

1958

M.C. Escher

Associated Names
M.C. Escher

Artist, Dutch, 1898 - 1972

This is a print of an architectural structure with multiple arches and domes in a mountainous landscape under a clear, dark sky. The structure features three levels connected by staircases and a ladder, with long columns between the top two levels. The building seems contorted in an impossible way; the top floor seems to be angled towards us, while the bottom floor seems to be angled away from us. At the bottom of the building, on the left, is a checkered floor with three people on it, two who are walking up the stairs to approach the building and another sitting on a bench and holding a contorted cube shape. There are more people in the building, including two walking up the ladder to the top floor, two standing and looking out at the mountainous landscape, and one behind a barred window in the bottom floor.
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Artwork overview

  • Medium

    lithograph in black

  • Credit Line

    Rosenwald Collection

  • Dimensions

    image: 46.51 × 29.53 cm (18 5/16 × 11 5/8 in.)
    sheet: 50.8 × 33.66 cm (20 × 13 1/4 in.)

  • Accession Number

    1964.8.730

  • Catalogue Raisonné

    Bool 1981, no. 426

  • Copyright

    All M.C. Escher works © Cordon Art-Baarn-the Netherlands. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Artwork history & notes

Exhibition History

1965

  • Drolleries and Demons: Six Centuries of 'Fantastic' Prints, IBM Gallery, New York, NY, 1965, no. 64.

1971

  • M.C. Escher, Princeton University Art Museum, Princeton, NJ, 1971-1972, no catalogue.

1972

  • "Prints by M. C. Escher", National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, 1972.

1975

  • "By Design: Curious Deceptions in Art and Play", Xerox Square Exhibit Center, Rochester, NY, 1975.

2015

  • The Worlds of M.C. Escher: Nature, Science, and Imagination, North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh, 2015.

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 right, on stone: MCE V-'58; lower left, in pencil: MCEscher No. 16/40

Wikidata ID

Q65511119

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