53 × 42 cm (21 × 16.5 in)
Wikimedia Commons
Castrovalva is a lithograph produced by the Dutch artist M. C. Escher (1898–1972), created in 1930.[1]
The picture is a representation of the hamlet
Rural settlement smaller than a village. of Castrovalva, in the Abruzzi region of southern Italy, overlooking the nature reserve of the Gorges de la Sagittario. The viewer’s eye is led along a winding pathway towards distant settlements in the valley below, above which voluminous clouds loom in the sky.[2][3]
At first sight the lithograph appears to be a realistic representation of the landscape, but closer inspection reveals several tricks used by the artist to intensify the illusion of depth. For instance, the plants in the bottom left foreground are unnaturally large, making everything else in the picture seem further away than it actually is.[2]
