Saint Vincent Martyr 1925

M.C. Escher made this wood engraving of Saint Vincent, Martyr, with no date given, imagining the saint in a dark and mysterious landscape. You know, Escher often played with patterns and impossible spaces, but here, the landscape has a surreal, dreamlike quality that feels both familiar and strange. I can almost imagine him carving into that wood block, the pressure of the tool creating each line, each shadow. The way he’s framed St. Vincent, surrounded by a glow, makes me wonder what Escher was thinking. Was he drawn to the visual puzzle, to the interplay of light and shadow? Maybe he was just trying to capture the mystery of faith, the space where belief meets the unknown. The wolves howling in the background and the watchful crow suggest an ominous feeling, but is it good or bad? Escher’s work is so mathematical, but, here, he lets something else come through, a sense of wonder, and maybe even a bit of doubt.