Pointe Gauche

French for the left-hand point, and the name is doing its job: a tapering spire that climbs to a sharp finial, the kind of tower that gives a storybook castle its lopsided, unmistakable skyline. The taper is stepped rather than smooth, so the eye works up it in stages before it arrives at the tip. Castle fan art tends to be built one tower at a time, and a distinct left-hand spire is the element that stops a silhouette looking flatly symmetrical. Taken on its own it is a slim vertical object with real presence — good on a bookcase, a mantel or the back of a desk, and useful for drawing height into a display of otherwise low, wide pieces. It suits collectors of fairytale architecture, anyone assembling a castle across several prints, and painters who like a piece with clean planes and one strong shape to work on.