Nikos Engonopoulos

Private Collection, Greece (a relative of the stage-director Socrates Karandinos, acquired from the artist)
Acquired from the above by the family of the present owner

Katerina Perpinioti-Agazir, Nikos Engonopoulos, son univers pictural, Athens, 2007, p. 192, illustrated; p. 307, no. 632, catalogued & illustrated (as Composition)

Oil on canvas laid on board, possibly by the artist. There are no signs of retouching visible under UV light. Apart from some minor spots of paint flaking, notably in the extreme upper right corner and next to the right arm of the soldier (visible in the catalogue illustration), and some light surface dirt, overall this work is in good original condition. Held in a modern gold-painted carved wood and plaster frame. The colours in the catalogue illustration are slightly more orange than in reality.
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Painted circa 1950-1960, the present work depicts the assassination of the Greek mathematician Archimedes at the hands of a Roman soldier. During the Second Punic War, the Syracusians defended their city during a protracted siege, using defensive weapons devised by Archimedes including the legendary Claw of Archimedes (rumoured to have lifted Roman ships out of the water) and using the heat of the sun to set fire to enemy ships.

However, the Romans successfully captured the city circa 212 BC and discovered Archimedes contemplating a mathematical diagram. When Archimedes, engrossed in his mathematical problem, refused to meet the Roman general Marcus Claudius Marcellus, he was slain by the enraged soldier. By tradition Archimedes' last words are said to have been "Do not disturb my circles", and it is this moment which Engonopoulos depicts here, with Archimedes at a blackboard, and geometric shapes at his feet.

It was the Greek theatre director Socrates Karandinos who suggested to Engonopoulos the subject of the present work, while the artist was designing stage sets for Karandinos' plays.