Sandro del Prete

His work has been compared to that of M. C. Escher, although the comparison has been qualified by the observation that it «lacks the latter's mathematical precision».

Following a professional career in insurance, during which painting remained a pastime, he turned to a more sustained artistic practice. At the age of twenty-three, he spent six months in Florence, where he attended the Florence Academy of Art. In 1961, he produced his first double-perspective painting, Window Gazing.

In publishing terms, he self-published a collection of black-and-white pencil drawings entitled Illusorismen in 1981, published a second collection, Illusoria, in 1987, and then brought out a third volume in 2007.

His work also includes sculptures: Loubegaffer, whose eyes appear to follow the viewer, was placed on permanent display at Bern’s main railway station. He operated venues devoted to presenting his work—first a gallery on Schwarztorstrasse in Bern, then, from 2002, Illusoria-Land in Ittigen (some 700 m²)—a space that closed in Ittigen in 2014 and was transferred to Restaurant Kreuz in Hettiswil bei Hindelbank.