Stacked figure layout issue

[gideongrinberg]

Description

Hi! I am trying to use Quarto to arrange 3 Python-generated figures in the following layout:

This is a minimal example of my code so far:

#| echo: false
#| label: fig-r0
#| layout: [[1,1],[1]]
#| fig-cap: "Infected population over time, varying the value of $R_0$" 
#| fig-subcap: 
#|     - "$R_0 > 1$"
#|     - "$R_0 < 1$"
#|     - "$R_0 = 1$"


for i in range(3):
    plt.plot([1, 2, 3, 4], [1, 4, 9, 16])
    plt.show()

It produces the following layout:

I am wondering if it is possible to make the bottom one equal to the top row in height and width, as in my example. I have tried a bunch of things, but none have worked. Thank you in advance for any advice you can provide.

Environment details: I am using Quarto with Python/Jupyter to produce a PDF report using the xelatex backend. I am using the version of Quarto bundled with RStudio Version 2025.05.1+513, Python 3.13.5, and matplotlib v3.10.7. Here is the output of uv pip freeze:

Python environment

anyio==4.11.0
appnope==0.1.4
argon2-cffi==25.1.0
argon2-cffi-bindings==25.1.0
arrow==1.4.0
asttokens==3.0.0
async-lru==2.0.5
attrs==25.4.0
babel==2.17.0
beautifulsoup4==4.14.2
bleach==6.3.0
certifi==2025.10.5
cffi==2.0.0
charset-normalizer==3.4.4
comm==0.2.3
contourpy==1.3.3
cycler==0.12.1
debugpy==1.8.17
decorator==5.2.1
defusedxml==0.7.1
executing==2.2.1
fastjsonschema==2.21.2
fonttools==4.60.1
fqdn==1.5.1
h11==0.16.0
httpcore==1.0.9
httpx==0.28.1
idna==3.11
ipykernel==7.1.0
ipython==9.7.0
ipython-pygments-lexers==1.1.1
ipywidgets==8.1.8
isoduration==20.11.0
jedi==0.19.2
jinja2==3.1.6
json5==0.12.1
jsonpointer==3.0.0
jsonschema==4.25.1
jsonschema-specifications==2025.9.1
jupyter==1.1.1
jupyter-client==8.6.3
jupyter-console==6.6.3
jupyter-core==5.9.1
jupyter-events==0.12.0
jupyter-lsp==2.3.0
jupyter-server==2.17.0
jupyter-server-terminals==0.5.3
jupyterlab==4.4.10
jupyterlab-pygments==0.3.0
jupyterlab-server==2.28.0
jupyterlab-widgets==3.0.16
kiwisolver==1.4.9
lark==1.3.1
markupsafe==3.0.3
matplotlib==3.10.7
matplotlib-inline==0.2.1
mistune==3.1.4
mpmath==1.3.0
nbclient==0.10.2
nbconvert==7.16.6
nbformat==5.10.4
nest-asyncio==1.6.0
notebook==7.4.7
notebook-shim==0.2.4
numpy==2.3.4
packaging==25.0
pandocfilters==1.5.1
parso==0.8.5
pexpect==4.9.0
pillow==12.0.0
platformdirs==4.5.0
prometheus-client==0.23.1
prompt-toolkit==3.0.52
psutil==7.1.3
ptyprocess==0.7.0
pure-eval==0.2.3
pycparser==2.23
pygments==2.19.2
pyparsing==3.2.5
python-dateutil==2.9.0.post0
python-json-logger==4.0.0
pyyaml==6.0.3
pyzmq==27.1.0
referencing==0.37.0
requests==2.32.5
rfc3339-validator==0.1.4
rfc3986-validator==0.1.1
rfc3987-syntax==1.1.0
rpds-py==0.28.0
send2trash==1.8.3
setuptools==80.9.0
six==1.17.0
sniffio==1.3.1
soupsieve==2.8
stack-data==0.6.3
sympy==1.14.0
terminado==0.18.1
tinycss2==1.4.0
tornado==6.5.2
traitlets==5.14.3
typing-extensions==4.15.0
tzdata==2025.2
uri-template==1.3.0
urllib3==2.5.0
wcwidth==0.2.14
webcolors==25.10.0
webencodings==0.5.1
websocket-client==1.9.0
widgetsnbextension==4.0.15

[mcanouil]

All figures respect the same provided width/height regardless of using the layout.
If you want to have your third figure have different width/height, you need to be explicit about it as layout won't change the ratio.

Alternatively, you can set the layout width for the third figure be the same as the first two instead of asking it to be twice as wide: layout: [[1,1],[-0.25,0.5,-0.25]].

---

Accessibility: To improve accessibility, please add alternative text to your screenshots. This helps all users, including those using screen readers, to understand the context of the images. A brief description can make a big difference! See Good Alt Text, Bad Alt Text — Making Your Content Perceivable.