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Italian, Veronese, 'The Justice of Trajan', probably about 1475-1500

About the work

Overview

This is the second of a pair of panels from a piece of painted furniture, a cassone (large chest). The panels show a story from the life of the Roman Emperor Trajan, widely known from Jacopo da Voragine’s Golden Legend of about 1260 and retold by Dante in the Divine Comedy in the early fourteenth century.

Trajan was preparing to leave for a military campaign when a widow asked for justice for her son, who had been killed by Trajan’s own son. The Emperor promised this on his return, but, after the widow pointed out that he might not come back, he duly held a court. Here, in the second scene of the story, Trajan sits on the left on a raised marble throne, dispensing justice. The widow stands before him, while soldiers and civilians look on.

Key facts

Details

Full title
The Justice of Trajan
Part of the series
Cassone Panels with Scenes from the Life of Trajan
Date made
probably about 1475-1500
Medium and support
egg tempera on wood
Dimensions
33.5 × 33 cm
Acquisition credit
Bought, 1883
Inventory number
NG1136
Location
Not on display
Collection
Main Collection

About this record

If you know more about this painting or have spotted an error, please contact us. Please note that exhibition histories are listed from 2009 onwards. Bibliographies may not be complete; more comprehensive information is available in the National Gallery Library.

Images

About the series: Cassone Panels with Scenes from the Life of Trajan

Italian, Veronese, 'The Widow's Petition', probably about 1475-1500

Overview

These two panels once adorned a cassone, a large decorated chest. Cassoni were prestigious and expensive items of furniture, and they often showed scenes from classical poetry or history; battles and moral stories were especially popular. A number of surviving late fifteenth-century cassoni from Verona depict the tale shown here, the so-called Justice of Trajan.

The extravagant frames with their paired dolphins are nineteenth-century replacements for the original pastiglia (raised decoration made from liquid plaster) frames. They were probably very similar to those on a large chest in the Detroit Institute of Arts, the front of which has two panels in decorative pastiglia frames on either side of a central panel, also in pastiglia, with a coat of arms. This seems to have been a popular arrangement in late fifteenth-century Verona, and our panels were presumably originally arranged in the same way.

Works in the series

This is one of a pair of panels from a piece of painted furniture, a cassone (large chest). They show the story of the Roman Emperor Trajan, widely known from Jacopo da Voragine’s Golden Legend of about 1260 and retold by Dante in the Divine Comedy in the early fourteenth century. As Trajan prepa...
Not on display
This is the second of a pair of panels from a piece of painted furniture, a cassone (large chest). The panels show a story from the life of the Roman Emperor Trajan, widely known from Jacopo da Voragine’s Golden Legend of about 1260 and retold by Dante in the Divine Comedy in the early fourteenth...
Not on display