The Justice of Trajan

This scene depicts an episode in 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. According to the legend while preparing for the Dacian Wars Trajan was petitioned for justice by a mother whose son had been murdered by Trajan’s own son. The Emperor promised this on his return, but when the woman pointed out that he may not return he immediately held court. On this panel the emperor is shown on horseback at the left, the widow is kneeling at the right with her dead son at her feet and accompanied by a small group of women. A foot soldier stands to attention at the left in the foreground, while a dog sniffs the ground beside him. Large numbers of foot soldiers armed with lances are shown behind the central group and the background opens out into an expansive landscape with a fortress visible on top of a hill at the left.

[cda 2021]