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Horizontorium
Horizontorium

Horizontorium

William G. Mason (American, active 1822–1860)
John Jesse Barker (American, born about 1785, active about 1815–1860)
R. H. Hobson
1832
Medium/TechniqueLithograph
DimensionsSheet: 57 × 44.5 cm (22 7/16 × 17 1/2 in.)
Credit LineThe Richard Balzer Collection—Gift of Patricia Bellinger Balzer
Accession number2019.814
On View
Not on view
ClassificationsPrints
Description

It looks like an Escher, but there’s a difference. Unlike Escher’s impossible structures, which cannot be built, this one actually existed. It was a bank in Philadelphia, and the distortion in this print is just a trick of perspective. If viewers place their eyes close to the little half-circle at the bottom and look across the print; the structure appears close to normal.  

InscriptionsIn stone, at lower left: HORIZONTORIUM. / From the original Drawing by Wm Mason, / in the possession of Charles N. Bancker Esqr / Philadelphia. Published by R. H. Hobson, 47 Chestnut Street / Entered according to act of Congress in the year 1832 by R. H. Hobson in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania In stone, at lower center: Drawn on Stone by J. J. BarkerProvenanceBetween about 1970 and 2017, acquired by Richard Balzer (b. 1944 - d. 2017), Brookline, MA; by inheritance to Patricia Bellinger; 2019, gift of Patricia Bellinger to the MFA. (Accession Date: April 24, 2019)