The Justice of Trajan is a legendary episode in the life of Roman EmperorTrajan, based upon Dio Cassius' account (Epitome of Book LXVIII, chapter 10): "He did not, however, as might have been expected of a warlike man, pay any less attention to the civil administration nor did he dispense justice any the less; on the contrary, he conducted trials, now in the Forum of Augustus, now in the Portico of Livia, as it was called, and often elsewhere on a tribunal."
According to the story, Trajan, busy with preparations for the Dacian Wars, was petitioned for justice by the mother of a murdered man. He asked her to wait until he returned, but she pointed out that he might not return at all. He made time to settle her case despite all the other calls on his time. The legend, though indirectly, was popularized by Dante in The Divine Comedy, alluded to in the Paradise, and recounted in Purgatory, X, 73-94:
The wretch appear'd amid all these to say:
"Grant vengeance, sire! for, woe beshrew this heart My son is murder'd." He replying seem'd; "Wait now till I return." And she, as one Made hasty by her grief; "O sire, if thou Dost not return?"—"Where I am, who then is, May right thee."—"What to thee is other's good, If thou neglect thy own?"—"Now comfort thee," At length he answers. "It beseemeth well My duty be perform'd, ere I move hence:
So justice wills; and pity bids me stay.
The origin of the legend and its vicissitudes since antiquity have been the subject of several studies, including the detailed "Leggende" by G. Boni, published in 1906. The episode was depicted in several works of art and in the verse The Justice by Belarusian poet Simeon of Polotsk (1629—1680). Visually, the core motif is the confrontation between the emperor, often mounted on a horse, and the widow, sometimes shown kneeling. Some depictions, like that carved on the facade of the Doge's Palace, Venice, are restricted to those figures, but often there is a great crowd of the emperor's army and courtiers. Among artists that depicted the legend are Eugène Delacroix, Rogier van der Weyden, Hans Sebald Beham, Noël Coypel and Noël Hallé. A French painter Raoul Dufy was inspired by Delacroix's painting of the justice.
Rogier van der Weyden or Roger de la Pasture was an Early Netherlandish painter whose surviving works consist mainly of religious triptychs, altarpieces and commissioned single and diptych portraits. He was highly successful and internationally famous in his lifetime; his paintings were exported – or taken – to Italy and Spain, and he received commissions from, amongst others, Philip the Good, Netherlandish nobility, and foreign princes. By the latter half of the 15th century, he had eclipsed Jan van Eyck in popularity. However his fame lasted only until the 17th century, and largely due to changing taste, he was almost totally forgotten by the mid-18th century. His reputation was slowly rebuilt during the following 200 years; today he is known, with Robert Campin and van Eyck, as the third of the three great Early Flemish artists, and widely as the most influential Northern painter of the 15th century.
The Descent from the Cross is a panel painting by the Flemish artist Rogier van der Weyden created c. 1435, now in the Museo del Prado, Madrid. The crucified Christ is lowered from the cross, his lifeless body held by Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus.
Portrait of a Lady is a small oil-on-oak panel painting executed around 1460 by the Netherlandish painter Rogier van der Weyden. The composition is built from the geometric shapes that form the lines of the woman's veil, neckline, face, and arms, and by the fall of the light that illuminates her face and headdress. The vivid contrasts of darkness and light enhance the almost unnatural beauty and Gothic elegance of the model.
The Magdalen Reading is one of three surviving fragments of a large mid-15th-century oil-on-panel altarpiece by the Early Netherlandish painter Rogier van der Weyden. The panel, originally oak, was completed some time between 1435 and 1438 and has been in the National Gallery, London since 1860. It shows a woman with the pale skin, high cheek bones and oval eyelids typical of the idealised portraits of noble women of the period. She is identifiable as the Magdalen from the jar of ointment placed in the foreground, which is her traditional attribute in Christian art. She is presented as completely absorbed in her reading, a model of the contemplative life, repentant and absolved of past sins. In Catholic tradition the Magdalen was conflated with both Mary of Bethany who anointed the feet of Jesus with oil and the unnamed "sinner" of Luke 7:36–50. Iconography of the Magdalen commonly shows her with a book, in a moment of reflection, in tears, or with eyes averted.
The Braque Triptych is a c. 1452 oil-on-oak altarpiece by the Early Netherlandish painter Rogier van der Weyden. When open, its three half-length panels reveal, from left to right, John the Baptist, The Virgin Mary with Jesus and Saint John the Evangelist, and on the right, Mary Magdalene. When the wings are closed, the work shows a vanitas motif of a skull and cross.
Saint Luke Drawing the Virgin is a large oil and tempera on oak panel painting, usually dated between 1435 and 1440, attributed to the Early Netherlandish painter Rogier van der Weyden. Housed in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, it shows Luke the Evangelist, patron saint of artists, sketching the Virgin Mary as she nurses the Child Jesus. The figures are positioned in a bourgeois interior which leads out towards a courtyard, river, town and landscape. The enclosed garden, illusionistic carvings of Adam and Eve on the arms of Mary's throne, and attributes of St Luke are amongst the painting's many iconographic symbols.
Crucifixion Diptych — also known as Philadelphia Diptych, Calvary Diptych, Christ on the Cross with the Virgin and St. John, or The Crucifixion with the Virgin and Saint John the Evangelist Mourning — is a diptych by the Early Netherlandish artist Rogier van der Weyden, completed c. 1460, today in the Philadelphia Museum of Art. The panels are noted for their technical skill, visceral impact and for possessing a physicality and directness unusual for Netherlandish art of the time. The Philadelphia Museum of Art describes work as the "greatest Old Master painting in the Museum."
Durán Madonna is an oil on oak panel painting completed sometime between 1435 and 1438 by the Netherlandish painter Rogier van der Weyden. The painting derives from Jan van Eyck's Ince Hall Madonna and was much imitated subsequently. Now in the Prado, Madrid, it depicts a seated and serene Virgin Mary dressed in a long, flowing red robe lined with gold-coloured thread. She cradles the child Jesus who sits on her lap, playfully leafing backwards through a holy book or manuscript on which both figures' gazes rest. But unlike van Eyck's earlier treatment, van der Weyden not only positions his Virgin and Child in a Gothic apse or niche as he had his two earlier madonnas, but also places them on a projecting plinth, thus further emphasising their sculptural impression.
The Master of the Prado Adoration of the Magi was a Netherlandish painter active between c. 1475 and 1500 whose identity is now lost. He is thought to have originated from the southern Netherlands and is known for his vibrant colourisation in panels depicting scenes from the infancy of Christ, he is thought to have been a pupil of Rogier van der Weyden, and is named after a copy of the "Adoration of the Magi" panel from that painter's St Columba Altarpiece. Although the Magi became a popular topic for northern painters in the second half of the 15th century and the Columba altarpiece was widely copied, the master is associated with van der Weyden's workshop because the copy is so close, it is believed he must have had access to a reproduction of the underdrawing.
The Justice of Trajan and Herkinbald was a set of four large panels painted by the Flemish painter Rogier van der Weyden that decorated one wall of a court-room in the Town Hall of Brussels. They represented the Justice of Trajan, a Roman emperor, and the Justice of Herkinbald, a legendary Duke of Brabant. The panels were intended as a reminder to judges to dispense impartial justice and were admired by generations of visitors, including Albrecht Dürer. They were destroyed when the city was bombarded by the French in 1695 and are now known only from descriptions and from a tapestry copy in the Historical Museum of Bern.
The Madonna Standing is a small painting by the Flemish artist Rogier van der Weyden dating from about 1430–1432. It is the left panel of a diptych held in the Kunsthistorisches Museum (KHM), Vienna since 1772. The right panel portrays St. Catherine and is also attributed by the KHM to van der Weyden, but is inferior in quality and generally regarded as by a workshop member.
The Virgin and Child Enthroned is a small oil-on-oak panel painting dated c. 1433, usually attributed to the Early Netherlandish artist Rogier van der Weyden. It is closely related to his Madonna Standing, completed during the same period. The panel is filled with Christian iconography, including representations of prophets, the Annunciation, Christ's infancy and resurrection, and Mary's Coronation. It is generally accepted as the earliest extant work by van der Weyden, one of three works attributed to him of the Virgin and Child enclosed in a niche on an exterior wall of a Gothic church. The panel is housed in the Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza in Madrid.
Fragments of a Cope with the Seven Sacraments refers to a 15th-century cope in the collection of the Historical Museum of Bern. It is part of the church treasure from the Cathedral of Lausanne sent to Bern after the Protestant conquest of Canton Vaud in 1536. The cope can be attributed to a master from the Netherlands in the circle of Rogier van der Weyden and was probably executed in Tournai where van der Weyden had a workshop from 1432 onwards.
The Master of the Legend of Saint Catherine is the Notname for an unknown late 15th century Early Netherlandish painter. He was named after a painting with Scenes from the Legend of Saint Catherine, now kept in the Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium. He was active between c. 1470 and c. 1500, probably around Brussels.
Master of the legend of St. Barbara, was an Early Netherlandish painter.
The St John Altarpiece is a c. 1455 oil-on-oak wood panel altarpiece by the Early Netherlandish painter Rogier van der Weyden, now in the Gemäldegalerie, Berlin. The triptych is linked to the artist's earlier Miraflores Altarpiece in its symbolic motifs, format and intention.
The Portrait of Isabella of Portugal is an oil-on-oak Early Netherlandish painting of Isabella of Portugal, Duchess of Burgundy, the third wife of Philip the Good. Executed around 1450, the painting had been attributed to Rogier van der Weyden, but is now believed to be from a member of his workshop.
The Bladelin Altarpiece, or Middelburg Altarpiece, is a triptych painting created around 1450 by the Flemish painter Rogier van der Weyden, towards the end of his artistic career. The work depicts scenes relating to the birth of Jesus; it is the only nativity scene definitively attributed to van der Weyden, and so is also known as the Nativity Triptych. It was donated to the new church of the town of Middelburg in 1460, possibly by Pieter Bladelin, who founded the town. It has been in the Gemäldegalerie, Berlin, since 1834.
St. Jerome and the Lion is an oil on oak panel painting by Rogier van der Weyden or his studio from c. 1450–1465, showing Jerome and a lion. It is now in the Detroit Institute of Arts. This painting also inspired a genre of St. Jerome art.
The Marriage of the Virgin or also known as TheBetrothal of the Virgin, is a c. 1420–1430 oil on oak painting by Robert Campin. The painting was intended to be a metaphor, primarily focused on the transition from the Old to the New Testament, which is expressed through iconography and disguised symbolism. It entered into the Spanish royal collection at El Escorial in 1584. It was later obtained by Prado Museum, where it continues to reside. This work by Robert Campin is one of his earliest and was previously attributed to Roger Van der Weyden.
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Capital on the "Corner of Justice" of the Doge's Palace, Venice
15th-century Italian desco da parto
German plaquette, 1525-50
The Justice of Trajan by Hans Sebald Beham
The Justice of Trajan (La clémence de Trajan) by Noël Hallé
