Discovery of unknown work by M.C. Escher

It is rare occurrence for a work by a world-famous artist to be discovered many years later, but Escher in The Palace has recently acquired a large work on paper by M.C. Escher that until now was unknown.

Escher made this work in March 1924 during his stay in Rome. It is a large representation (33 x 63 cm) of what was thought to be an unknown town perched on a mountainside. Research carried out by curator Micky Piller has revealed that this is Montecelio situated about 20 kilometres north-east of Rome.

The work was owned by the Escher family. Since it is unique (Escher never made any impressions) the museum is especially happy to add such an important artwork to its collection. The family was aware the Escher had done some work with stencils. But besides stencils he used stamps, rollers and stippling brushes, as well as a range of paper stamps, each with its own structure or grain. The work features full, half and even rotated repetitions of these shapes.

It is highly unusual for a major work of Escher’s to be discovered so long after his death. The purchase marks the retirement of Micky Piller, curator of Escher in The Palace since it opened in 2002.
Before Escher started on a print he always made a large number of preliminary drawings. But the careful composition and detail of this work make it clear it is not a study. Though Escher made no prints in 1924 due to the preparations for his wedding with Jetta Umiker, he apparently found time to create this complex work.
There two other drawings that show a technical affinity with Montecelio: the first dates from 1920 and portrays a farmer on the island of Texel, the second is the 1928 view of the little Corsican town of Corte. For the portrait of the farmer Escher also used indian ink and in Corte he used stippling. But in the farmer’s portrait he was experimenting with Cubism, which is not the case in this work, while Corte is livelier and more anecdotal than Montecelio.

The work’s Japanese elements are striking but not unusual in Escher’s oeuvre. The tree in the bottom right-hand corner and the line of stippled mountains in the background, as well as the slightly darker edging at the top are taken from Japanese art, familiar to Escher since his childhood.

Taken together, these elements make Montecelio an important early work, linking Escher’s study at the School of Architecture and Decorative Arts in Haarlem and his later Italian panoramas. After the Second World War Escher transformed his experience of Italian landscapes in the prints with differing perspectives so typical of his work.