The Justice of Trajan

Title

[cda 2021]

Painting on wood

Medium

Painting on wood

[Exhib. Cat. Berlin 1937, no. 115]

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]

Attribution: Workshop Lucas Cranach the Elder

Attribution

Workshop Lucas Cranach the Elder

[Wohlberedt 2015, 195] [Exhib. Cat. Berlin 1937, no. 115]

Production dates: about 1540
1578

Production dates

about 1540	[Exhib. Cat. Berlin 1937, no. 115]
1578	Note in file, Anhaltische Gemäldegalerie Dessau; possibly information found on the frame [Wohlberedt 2015,195, Fn. 6]

Dimensions: Dimensions of support: 218 x 144 cm

Dimensions

Dimensions of support: 218 x 144 cm
[Exhib. Cat. Berlin 1937, no. 115]

Inscriptions and Labels: Recto: - bottom, left corner, in paint: '457.'

Inscriptions and Labels

Stamps, Seals, Labels:

Recto: - bottom, left corner, in paint: '457.'

Owner: Anhaltische Gemälde-Galerie, Dessau
Repository: painting not preserved

CDA ID: DE_AGGD-Lost_457
FR (1978) Nr.: FR-none
Persistent Link: https://lucascranach.org/en/DE_AGGD-Lost_457/

Provenance

formerly in the Gothic House (Gotisches Haus), Wörlitz (inventory by August von Rodes, 1818)
since 1927 Dessau, Anhaltische Gemäldegalerie (Inv. no. 323)
transferred to Zerbst castle in c. 1940 and was presumably destroyed during the air-raid, 16.04.1945
[Wohlberedt 2015, 194,195, Fns. 7, 8, 9]

Exhibitions

Berlin 1937, no. 115

Literature

Reference on page

Catalogue Number

Figure / Plate

Exhib. Cat. Wörlitz 2015

194-203

Fig. 1

Editor	Kulturstiftung Dessau Wörlitz
Editing	Wolfgang Savelsberg
Title	Cranach im Gotischen Haus in Wörlitz, [Wörlitz, Gotisches Haus, 15 May - 4 Oct. 2015]
Series	Kataloge und Schriften der Kulturstiftung Dessau Wörlitz
Volume	35
Place of Publication	Munich
Year of Publication	2015

Show Literature

Wohlberedt 2015

194-203

Fig. 1

Author	Astrid Wohlberedt
Title	Die Gerechtigkeit des Kaisers Trajan aus der Cranach-Werkstatt, ehemals im Gotischen Haus in Wörlitz
Publication	in Kulturstiftung Dessau-Wörlitz, ed., Cranach im Gotischen Haus in Wörlitz, Exhib. Cat. Wörlitz
Place of Publication	Munich
Year of Publication	2015
Pages	194-203

Show Literature

Exhib. Cat. Berlin 1937

115

Pl. 92

Editor	Staatliche Museen, Berlin
Title	Lucas Cranach d. Ä. und Lucas Cranach d. J. Gemälde, Zeichnungen, Graphik
Place of Publication	Berlin
Year of Publication	1937

Show Literature

The Justice of Trajan, about 1540

Images

Citing from the Cranach Digital Archive

Entry with author: <author's name>, 'The Justice of Trajan', <title of document, data entry or image>. [<Date of document or image>], in: Cranach Digital Archive, https://lucascranach.org/en/DE_AGGD-Lost_457/ (Accessed {{dateAccessed}})
Entry with no author: 'The Justice of Trajan', <title of document, data entry or image>. [<Date of document, entry or image>], in: Cranach Digital Archive, https://lucascranach.org/en/DE_AGGD-Lost_457/ (Accessed {{dateAccessed}})

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