Talk:Ascending and Descending

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Netherlands

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Untitled

I put this image on my userpage, it reminds me of an early version of wikipedia. Pernambuco 13:53, 27 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Other figures.

Little or no mention is ever made of the two solitary figures 'outside of the box'. The first leaning on a lower rampart observing upwards and the lower slumped in a sitting posture at the base. Obvious Dante analogies aside - has anyone read of any reference to this work and more esoteric allusions to Jacob's Ladder?Ernstblumberg (talk) 06:49, 25 April 2009 (UTC)[reply]

The two men are referred to by Escher himself as "recalcitrant individuals". According to his description of the picture, the people on the infinite staircase are monks, who are obliged to walk up the stairs (or down, if they're tired) as part of a ritual of their (otherwise unspecified) "sect"; the two monks who aren't on the staircase are refusing to do the ritual. I don't think there are any literary, philosophical or religious references at all here, but, as the article says, I think that it all takes inspiration from the Dutch phrase "a monks' job", meaning something useless and worthless - a waste of time. Ugo1970 (talk) 23:27, 10 September 2012 (UTC)[reply]