Castrovalva (M. C. Escher)

Castrovalva is a lithograph print by the Dutch artist M. C. Escher, first printed in February 1930. Like many of Escher's early works, it depicts a place that he visited on a tour of Italy.

It depicts the Abruzzi village of Castrovalva, which lies at the top of a sheer slope. The perspective is toward the northwest, from the narrow trail on the left which, at the point from which this view is seen, makes a hairpin turn to the right, descending to the valley. In the foreground at the side of the trail, there are several flowering plants, grasses, ferns, a beetle and a snail. In the expansive valley below there are cultivated fields and two more towns, the nearest of which is Anversa degli Abruzzi, with Casale in the distance.

In Popular Culture

• In 1982 the name "Castrovalva" was used in a story in the BBC television series Doctor Who. The storyline also relied heavily on recursion, a favorite theme in Escher's later and more famous works, and used ideas taken from Belvedere, Ascending and Descending, and Relativity to trap the protagonists in the city of Castrovalva.
• The comic Kingdom of the Wicked is set in an imaginary world named Castrovalva.

See also

• Printmaking
• Derivative works

Escher's work was a source of ideas for a number of related works. For instance, "Castrovalva" was an inspiration for a (color) oil painting by R. Dimitric ("Italian Spring", oil on canvas, 16in x 20in).

External links

• The lithograph

Sources

• Locher, J.L. (2000). The Magic of M. C. Escher. Harry N. Abrams, Inc. ISBN 0-8109-6720-0.