Belvedere《观景楼》

爱艺

Belvedere is a lithograph print （46.2 cm × 29.5 cm） by the Dutch artist M. C. Escher， first printed in May 1958. It shows a plausible-looking belvedere building that is an impossible object， modelled after an impossible cube.

In this lithograph， Escher uses two-dimensional images to depict objects free of the confines of the three-dimensional world. The image is of a rectangular three-story building. The upper two floors are open at the sides with the top floor and roof supported by pillars. From the viewer’s perspective， all the pillars on the middle floor are the same size at both the front and back， but the pillars at the back are set higher. The viewer also sees by the corners of the top floor that it is at a different angle than the rest of the structure. All these elements make it possible for all the pillars on the middle floor to stand at right angles， yet the pillars at the front support the back side of the top floor while the pillars at the back support the front side. This paradox also allows a ladder to extend from the inside of the middle floor to the outside of the top floor.

There is a man seated at the foot of the building holding an impossible cube. He appears to be constructing it from a diagram of a Necker cube1 at his feet with the intersecting lines circled. The window next to him is closed with an iron grille that is geometrically valid， but practically impossible to assemble.

The woman who is about to climb the steps of the building is modeled after a figure from the right-hand panel of Hieronymus Bosch’s 1500 triptych The Garden of Earthly Delights2. This panel is individually titled Hell; a portion of it was recreated by Escher as a lithograph in 1935.

The ridge in the background is part of Morrone Mountains in Abruzzo， that Escher had visited several times when living in Italy during the 1920s and 1930s.

《觀景楼》是荷兰画家M. C.埃舍尔创作的一幅平版印刷画（46.2厘米×29.5厘米），首印于1958年5月。画面展示了一个貌似结构合理、其实不可能存在的观景楼，创作模型是一个不可能的立方体。

画中，埃舍尔采用二维图像来描绘不受三维世界束缚的物体。中心图像是一个长方形三层建筑。上两层都在一侧有开口，顶层和屋顶由多根立柱支撑。从观画者角度看，中间楼层的所有立柱无论位置前后，大小都一样，但后面的柱子设置得更高些。观画者还可以从顶层的四角看到，顶层整体的角度与观景楼其他部分不同。所有这些元素都使中间楼层的立柱得以竖直站立，而前方的柱子支撑的是顶层后部，后方的柱子则支撑着顶层前部。这种矛盾现象还表现为从中间楼层内部搭起的梯子延伸到顶层时变成搭在了外部。

一个男子坐在观景楼脚下，手持一个不可能的立方体。他似乎是在根据脚边的一张图搭建这个立方体，那张图画的是内克尔立方体，相交的线被圈出做了标记。他旁边的窗户装了密封的铁栅栏，那栅栏从几何上看是成立的，但实际上无法组装。

一个女子正要拾级登楼，该形象取自希罗尼穆斯·博施1500年创作的三联画《世俗乐园》右联上的一个人物。这一联被单独命名为《地狱》，1935年，埃舍尔以平版印刷画的形式对其中一部分进行了再创作。

背景中的山脉是阿布鲁佐大区莫罗内山脉的一部分，1920年代和30年代埃舍尔在意大利生活时曾多次到这座山脉游玩。                                   □