The Death of Archimedes
Luca Giordano (Naples 1632 – Naples 1705)
Category
Art / Oil paintings
Date
1652 - 1705
Materials
Oil on canvas
Measurements
1753 x 2210 mm (69 x 87 in)
Place of origin
Naples
Order this imageCollection
Attingham Park, Shropshire
NT 609024
Caption
Archimedes (c.287-212 B.C.), was a Greek mathematician, and the founder of physics. He invented military machines which enabled the city to hold out for two years against the Romans during the second Punic War. According to the historian Plutarch, he died when the city was finally captured. He was asked to appear before the General Marcellus, but he was preoccupied with a diagram he had drawn in the dust on the ground, and declined until he had solved his problem. He was killed immediately. It seems that this picture originally had a pendant, Dionysus, Tyrant of Syracuse, as Schoolmaster, now in the Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool. Giordano was one of the prime exponents of Neapolitan Baroque painting, demonstrated here by the intense contrast of light and shade, bold use of gesture, and choice of subject matter.
Summary
Oil painting on canvas, The Death of Archimedes by Luca Giordano (Naples 1632 – Naples 1705). Archimedes, kneeling to the left, turns to face two soldiers in armour threatening him from behind; the heads of two other soldiers are seen in the background; parchment scrolls lie in front.
Provenance
Attingham collection. 1847 Catalogue of Paintings, p.12; 1861 Inventory p.217; 1913 Inventory p.63; bequeathed to the National Trust with the estate, house and contents of Attingham by Thomas Henry Noel-Hill, 8th Baron Berwick (1877-1947) on 15th May 1953.
Credit line
Attingham Park, The Berwick Collection (National Trust)
Makers and roles
Luca Giordano (Naples 1632 – Naples 1705), artist