The Loch Ness monster has not been appearing in “person” as much lately, but it has certainly been making waves in the artistic community where a painting has surfaced showing the creature being played to by a mysterious faceless figure holding a flute. The painting bears the equally cryptic message (presumably from Escher himself) bearing the words, “With all my heart to a friendly remembrance.”
The mysterious figure holding the flute is depicted in the nude facing away from the point of view of the artist while a mysterious creature, presumably the Loch Ness Monster or perhaps a small brachiasaur surfaces nearby in order to hear the tune and balance a ball atop its head. The mysterious painting is the centerpiece to an incredibly rich mystery that has remained unsolved since it was first discovered in 2005. When Raffaele De Feo was clearing out his attic, he ran across the mysterious charcoal drawing dating back to 1945 and looked closely at it.
“It was certainly a strange picture…” De Feo said to investigators within the artistic community. The Avellino province police officer chalked the image up as nothing more than a mysterious and strange painting, but as he removed the frame and looked on the back and read the inscription he was floored. The inscription was clearly signed MC Escher. But was it real or a hoax painting set up to be discovered years later and yield a windfall in auction? And what of the mysterious inscription? Who was Escher signing this painting to, and why the mysterious image of a creature that couldn’t possibly exist according to modern science?
Experts have been called in to authenticate or refute the image, enlisting the assistance of Marits Cornelis Escher, known simply as “Mauk” to many in the field to verify its source. Though it is thought to only be sighted in one place, hence the name “Nessie” after famous Loch Ness, the creature matching the image depicted in the painting as well as several other variations on the central theme of an aquatic dinosaur have been sighted throughout the years as an elusive serpentine form that carries itself with an elusive air.
And the incredible fame enjoyed by Escher, who died in 1972 has only deepened the mystery. After depicting the “impossible structures” in his work, he has been followed and adored by fans worldwide. But could the artist have been living a life whose chapters we do not normally see? Was there a paranormal connection here that allowed him to see objects in ways no one before him ever had? The painting alone does not answer any questions on its own, but it certainly raise more than its fair share of questions. If it turns out to be a real painting, a piece such as this could be worth a great deal. And then of course there is the wealth of information that could be gleaned by following mysteries such as this one to find out who the nude man playing to the Loch Ness monster is, and why Escher felt the need to immortalize him in painting.