Compared to his crisp, clean, white reliefs of the 1930s, Nicholson’s later reliefs have contrasting textures and tilted shapes flowing in different directions. They were usually carved in hardboard, in very low relief with a razor blade. This one also displays the point of a compass which he used to engrave the circles into the surface. The Greek word ‘Vasilios’ means ‘of Royal blood’. Often Nicholson would add a subtitle to his works which bear no relationship with the actual piece but simply because he liked the word or name. This is almost certainly an example of this and relates to his travels to Greece in 1959 and 1961.