The Justice of Trajan,
tempera, oil and gold on panel, a cassone front, 63 x 183 cm (overall), 42 x 165 cm (painted surface), integral frame

Provenance:
Collection of John Ashburnham, 2nd Earl of Ashburnham (1724-1812), Ashburnham House, Dover Street, London (as ‘Masaccio’);
thence by descent to his son George, 3rd Earl of Ashburnham (1760-1830), Ashburnham House, Dover Street, London;
thence by descent to his son Bertram, 4th Earl of Ashburnham (1797-1878), Ashburnham House, Dover Street, London;
thence by descent to his son Bertram, 5th Earl of Ashburnham (1840-1913), Ashburnham Place, Sussex (as Early Italian School);
thence by inheritance to his brother Thomas, 6th Earl of Ashburnham (1855-1924), Ashburnham Place, Sussex;
thence by inheritance to his niece Mary Catherine Charlotte Ashburnham (1890-1953), Ashburnham Place, Sussex;
sold by Order of The Trustees of the Ashburnham Settled Estates and the Executors of Lady Catherine Ashburnham, Sotheby’s, London, 24 June 1953, lot 4 (as Florentine School);
where acquired by Arthur Kauffmann (1887-1983), Frankfurt;
sold to Vincent Korda (1897-1979), London;
reacquired by Arthur Kaufmann and sold to M. Spink, London, 1975 (as Master of Fucecchio);
sale, Christie’s, London, 5 July 2007, lot 89 (as Giovanni di ser Giovanni Guidi, lo Scheggia, the attribution changed in a saleroom notice to Florentine School, circa 1460); where acquired by the present owner

Exhibited:
Florence, Galleria dell’Accademia – Museo Horne, Virtù d’amore. Pittura nuziale nel Quattrocento fiorentino, 8 June – 1 November 2010, no. VII (as Master of the Trionfi Landau Finaly);
Tokyo, The Bunkamura Museum of Art, Money and Beauty. Botticelli and the Renaissance in Florence, 21 March – 28 June 2015, no. 44 (as Master of the Trionfi Landau Finaly [Domenico di Michelino?])

Literature:
G. Hughes, Renaissance Cassoni: Masterpieces of Early Italian Art: Painted Marriage Chests 1400–1550, Alfriston, Polegate, Sussex 1997, pp. 20, 54, 216-217, ill. pp. 24-25, 56, 187 and on cover (as Lo Scheggia);
L. Bellosi, M. Haines, Lo Scheggia, exhibition catalogue, Florence-Siena 1999, p. 99 (under paintings erroneously attributed to Lo Scheggia);
A. Staderini, in: C. Paolini, D. Parenti, L. Sebregodi (eds.), Virtù d’amore. Pittura nuziale nel Quattrocento fiorentino, exhibition catalogue, Florence 2010, pp. 276-277, no. VII (as Master of the Trionfi Landau Finaly);
L. Sebregondi, Money and Beauty: Botticelli and the Renaissance in Florence, exhibition catalogue, Tokyo 2015, pp. 98-99, no. 44 (as Master of the Trionfi Landau Finaly [Domenico de Michelino?])

The present painting is registered in the Fototeca Zeri under no. 13821 (as Apollonio di Giovanni).

This work formed the front panel of a cassone or nuptial chest, a furnishing that was traditionally part of a bride’s dowry in the ritual of Renaissance marriage, these were usually adorned with subjects that celebrated matrimonial values and the virtues of the betrothed.

The present panel is still contained within its original setting, consisting of silver-gilt entablatures and gilded fluted pilasters, on which remain the pastiglia supports for coats-of-arms that would have contained the heraldic symbols of the families of the couple, for whom the cassone was made.

The subject represented in the painting was erroneously identified as the Story of Lianore de’ Bardi and Ippolito Buondelmonti by Hughes who first published the work (see literature); it in fact represents one of two episodes from the Story of Trajan and the Widow which became popular during the Middle Ages due to the version told by Jacopo da Varagine in the Golden Legend, and subsequently reoccurs on various painted nuptial cassoni of the Quattrocento. 

According to the legend, the son of the Roman Emperor Trajan, on his departure with the army on an expedition to the Orient, killed a young man by trampling him with his horse. The mother of the dead man, a widow, found the courage to stop the Imperial retinue and entreat Trajan for compensation for the loss she had suffered. The present painting depicts the second part of the story: the Emperor is represented enthroned beneath a loggia on the left as he dispenses justice to the widow kneeling before him whilst guards restrain the guilty youth. To compensate the woman, Trajan decides to present her in marriage to errant his son, additionally showering her with numerous gifts. The right-hand side of the painting represents the newly-weds making their way to their house, accompanied, in accordance with tradition, by a nuptial cortège carrying the rich dowry, including gilded furnishings and, significantly, a cassone.

According to the legend, on account of this episode the so-called Justice of Trajan, the Emperor became known for his righteousness and justice and through the intervention of Saint Gregory the Great, he was admitted into Paradise, despite his being pagan. The legend was also taken up by Dante who places Trajan in the third book of his Divine Comedy (Paradise, Canto XX: 43-45). 

It is likely that the current panel derives from one of a pair of cassone and that the rest of the narrative was represented on a panel on the second chest. This work was probably painted in Florence around the mid-Quattrocento and is by an artist of great refinement, as is demonstrated by the elegant figures, the well-ordered composition and the skillfully represented Renaissance architecture. This work was initially believed to be by the hand of the younger brother of Masaccio, who was known as Lo Scheggia (see Hughes in literature), but it was later attributed to the so-called Master of the Trionfi Landau Finaly (see Staderini in literature), an, as yet, anonymous artist influenced by the painting style of Beato Angelico and the narrative manner of Pesellino’s cassoni. More recently Everett Fahy (private communication) suggested identifying the artist of the present painting as the Florentine Domenico di Michelino (1417-1491), who was a pupil and collaborator of Beato Angelico.