Meetkunde 1663 - 1738

Curator: Welcome to this exploration of "Meetkunde," an engraving and etching dating from 1663 to 1738 by Jacques-Antoine Friquet de Vauroze. Editor: Immediately striking is the stark contrast – the intense diagonal cut separating what appears to be quiet study from utter chaos. There's such a strange feeling of immediacy but also remove. Curator: Precisely. It depicts the death of Archimedes during the siege of Syracuse. A Roman soldier, acting under orders to not harm the great mathematician, becomes enraged when Archimedes refuses to stop working on his geometric diagrams. Editor: And there he is, lost in thought. Notice the detail in those lines etched on the floor. He's so absorbed he barely seems to register the drama unfolding. I love the angularity of his form contrasted to the classical drapery; his arm is so rigid, so purposefully angled downward. Curator: What I find fascinating is how this print served a political purpose. It presents Archimedes as a martyr to intellectual pursuit. His death highlights the futility and destructiveness of war in comparison to the lasting value of knowledge. Prints like these helped to reinforce the virtues of intellectual pursuits for a burgeoning scientific class. Editor: Yes, and technically speaking, the work highlights a true virtuosity. Consider the line work, the fineness of the etching in rendering those flames, the way the smoke unfurls, versus the crisp clarity in Archimedes' figure and the soldiers. A complex scene is given so much visual coherence and energy. Curator: The geometric frame almost isolates the event, drawing our focus while perhaps symbolizing the cold logic with which these events transpired. It speaks to a kind of dispassion. Editor: It makes one question where true order lies. Is it in the geometry he’s so intently working on, or the imposed, yet failed, political order around him? So many intriguing dualities expressed within a static, deliberately-angled plane. Curator: A brilliant piece to remind us about how deeply entangled art, science, and power always become. Editor: It is powerful, even now, reminding us to question the prevailing order, and where we devote our passions.