After their holidays with the Schiblers in Steckborn the Escher family travels to the Netherlands at the end of June 1931. Jette and the kids would stay until 1 September and Maurits until 18 September. He used these 3½ months to enhance and broaden his technique. He visited the artist Fokko Mees, who taught him the possibilities of end-grain engraving with a chisel. Escher bought a graver with a magnifier to create this very detailed work.

George Arnold Escher was 96 years old when he passed away on 14 June 1939. It was therefore no surprise to his son Maurits that his death was near. Yet it felt like a shock. Maurits was the last of father Escher’s five sons (two of whom were from his first marriage).

May 1954 sees Escher working on Rind. He was inspired by The Invisible Man, an 1897 science fiction novel by the British author H.G. Wells. In it, an invisible man can only be seen by means of the bandages that cover him. Escher changed the man into a woman. To find the right composition, Escher used his wife Jetta as a model. In 1954, he first carried out two studies, reaching a final result in May 1955.

Encounter, from May 1944, and Reptiles are the better-known works Escher produced during the war. He describes Encounter like this:

'Out from a grey surface of a back wall there develops a complicated pattern of white and black humanoid figures. And since people who desire to live need at least a floor to walk on, a floor has been designed for them, with a circular gap in the middle so that as much as possible can still be seen on the back wall. In this way they are forced not only to walk in a ring, but also to meet each other in the foreground: a white optimist and a black pessimist shaking hands with one another.'

After having travelled along the Italian coast on the freighter Rossini by himself, Escher’s wife Jetta joins him on 11 May 1936. They spend a day in Genoa, they visit Pisa and on 13 May they travel on to Savona. Because the ship did not stay long, Escher does not disembark. He takes a photo of a sailing boat that he sees through the porthole of his cabin.

In 1946, Escher delved into the mezzotint, a technique that was new to him. The possibility of obtaining extremely subtle gradations of light and dark with this technique fascinated him.

‘This amazing, beautiful, night-time Rome, whose architecture I love so much more than I do during the day’.

Escher visited Sicily while it was still untouched. In the spring of 1932 he made his first trip to the island, together with his friend and painter Giuseppe Haas-Triverio.
One of the places they visit is the cloister at the cathedral of Monreale. It is considered as one of the most beautiful in Italy. In March 1933 Escher created a wood engraving which is based on this visit.

On 6 March 1938 Jan Escher is born. Following George (1926) and Arthur (1928), he is the third son of Maurits and Jetta. Just as he did for Arthur, Escher created the birth announcement card himself.

In March 1932 Escher created a lithograph of a lion.

In the 1920s and 1930s Escher made several long trips to Italy in search of inspiration for his work. Together with artists he befriended, he visited untouched parts of the country in spring and in summer and made drawings there. In the following winter he developed a selection of these into prints. In February 1931 he produced this lithograph of Santa Severina.

‘I am thinking about a very attractive commission which the Post Office might offer me.’
Escher writes these words to his eldest son George in Canada in June 1967. The question was whether he could expand his four-metre long Metamorphosis II (1939-1940) by another three metres. For the new post office in The Hague this new seven-metre-long Metamorphosis III would be expanded to 48 metres and painted on linen.

Escher visited Sicily for the first time in the spring of 1932, together with his friend and painter Giuseppe Haas-Triverio. From Palermo they travelled to the coast, circled Mount Etna, to Randazzo and visited the lava formations at Bronte. In just over a month, Escher made 23 drawings and took numerous photos.

"feverish nights, lying in bed as a child, while my father read to me by the light of a half-veiled lamp in an attempt to lull me to sleep."

Besides selling his prints, Escher made a living from undertaking commissions. Examples include his pattern designs for a glass ceiling at the Philips lighting factory, wooden panels for the City Hall in Leiden and for a tiled façade on a high school in The Hague. He often applied tessellations when working on such commissions.

The winter of 1935/1936 was a dark period in Escher's life. In the spring of 1935, his second son Arthur had been diagnosed with tuberculosis. George, Escher's eldest son, was in equally poor health. Without too much deliberation, a decision is made: Leave Rome. The clean mountain air will do the boys good.

On 12 June 1924, Maurits Cornelis Escher marries Giulietta Umiker, given name Jetta, in the Italian seaside town of Viareggio, not far from Pisa. Four days later, on 16 June, at the urgent request of Jetta, a convalidation ceremony or "blessing of the marriage" was held in a room of a Catholic school. Two Italian nuns acted as witnesses.

On 25 November 1950, L.C. Kalff MSc (Eng), Director of Artistic Affairs, dictated the following letter: ‘Dear Escher, Thirty-three years ago, we produced countless drawings together for the Delftsche Studenten Almanak. Although I have not had the pleasure of working with you since those early days, I have been following your Metamorphosis from aspiring architect to graphic designer with great interest. I now have a proposal to make, which I hope will be of interest to you...'

Because of Escher’s father’s job as a civil engineer, the Escher family moved to the city of Arnhem in 1903, and took up residence at Utrechtsestraat 19. In 1912, Mauk entered the Lorentz HBS in the Schoolstraat. In an interview in 1968, Escher describes his school period as the 'Hell of Arnhem'. Escher wandered a lot in the surrounding area. During his walks, he encountered the railway bridge across the Rhine.

After completing his studies to become a printmaker in Haarlem in 1922, the young Escher embarks on his second trip to Italy. The previous year, his parents had taken him to Southern France, from where they travelled on to Florence. On 5 April 1922, Escher leaves Arnhem for Florence, accompanied by his closest friends, Jan van der Does de Willebois and Bas Kist.

Hand with reflecting sphere is one of Escher's most famous works. This lithograph, printed in 1935, is also known as Self-Portrait in spherical mirror. At this festive time of year, it seemed befitting to focus the spotlight on this print.

Escher not only observed the countryside, he was also a keen walker. When he first arrived in Italy, Escher spent every spring undertaking long journeys through different parts of the country. In a letter to his friend Bas Kist, he remarked that he needed these breaks to recover from his annual exertions.