[HISTORICAL SCENES / MIDDLE EAST] Original artwork and courtroom skecth in gouache: Mehmet Ali Agca is being judged at Rome after the Pope's assassination

ÖMER MUZ, (Turkish artist), (1957-), N. D.

Original artwork in gouache on thick paper. 21x29 cm. While Agca is on trial in Rome, in front of the judge, for the Assassination of the Pope, claiming to be the Messiah. The Italian flag is visible on the court.

Signed on the lower left.

On 13 May 1981, in St. Peter's Square in Vatican City, Pope John Paul II was shot and wounded by Mehmet Ali Agca while he was entering the square. The Pope was struck twice and suffered severe blood loss. Agca was apprehended immediately and later sentenced to life in prison by an Italian court. The Pope later forgave Agca for the assassination attempt. He was pardoned by Italian president Carlo Azeglio Ciampi at the Pope's request and was deported to Turkey in June 2000. Agca converted to Roman Catholicism in 2007. (Wikipedia).

Muz was born in Istanbul in 1957, he started his career as a graphic artist and cartoonist in various media. He also has drawn cover illustrations and comic strips for various foreign publications and created posters for many Turkish films in the 1980s. He contributed several covers to the magazine, from regular series to more nationalist covers praising the courage of the Turkish army. Following a short trip to Italy in the early 1990’s he began concentrating his works on watercolor, which he still does. He was in Italy in the 1980s and 90s.