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
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/