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MASTERPIECE
Cambyses was a Persian king (shah) who ruled between 529–522 BC. His most famous feat was his conquest of Egypt. The Greek historian Herodotus, who was born about 50 years after Cambyses’s death and who lived until about 425 BC, described him as a mad, cruel ruler. He was still known as such as late as the fifteenth century. In these two panels, the painter Gerard David has depicted Cambyses’s punishment of the corrupt judge Sisamnes as if it took place in Bruges, in his own time. He did so by combining typical Renaissance elements – which reference to Classical Antiquity – such as the round reliefs on either side of Sisamnes’s seat, the putti and the garlands, with fifteenth-century buildings and men in contemporary attire. David’s intriguing work served to urge Bruges’s aldermen, who looked at it everyday in city hall, to be incorruptible and fair when performing their judicial duties.
Details
Subjects
Dimensions
geheel, hoogte: 182.3 cm
geheel, breedte: 318.6 cm
geheel, breedte: 318.6 cm
Identification
Collection
Category
Object name
Inventory number
0000.GRO0040.I-0041.I
Linked open data
IIIF manifest
Copyright
Musea Brugge is committed to making its data available as usable open data. Images of works of art which are not subject to copyright restrictions are therefore published under the Creative Commons Zero licence. These may be used freely.
