Today’s print is a visually striking piece with an interesting backstory. This is not one of Escher’s characteristic “crazy” pieces, but what might be called a pretty traditional kind of picture, albeit one that grabs my gut. Escher was inspired to write it by a piano prelude by Debussy. Debussy’s piece was, in turn, inspired by an ancient Breton myth called the Legend of Ys, about a sunken city or church that re-emerges above the water periodically. Of course, as with most ancient stories, there are numerous versions and variations.
The basic framework of the story seems to first be found in the sixteenth century, some elements can be found centuries earlier. The essential seems to be that the city was build on land reclaimed from the sea which could be flooded at high tide, so it was protected by dikes. The king’s daughter steals his keys, probably to admit a lover, and mistakenly opens the floodgates at high tide, allowing the city to be inundated, killing almost all of the inhabitants. Versions differ as to whether it was the palace/castle that was inundated, or the whole city, and in some later versions, it seems it was a church/cathedral, which was clearly what Debussy based his version on. The legened suggests that when the water is very clear, the city/palace/catherdral rises above the water transiently, and priests chanting and bells ringing can be heard.
Debussy’s prelude is very lovely, and very typical of his work. Some of the motifs definitely suggest church bells and priestly chanting. Escher’s print clearly hews to the cathedral version, and is very evocative.
La Cathedrale Engloutie (The Drowned Cathedral), (Woodcut, 1929)
