The Judgment of Cambyses
by VELLERT, Dirck Jacobsz., Grisaille and silver stain yellow on lightly tinted glass pane, diameter 30 cm
This is Vellert’s last dated pane of glass. It is painted in medium to dark-brown grisaille combined with silver stain yellow in tones from golden yellow to a deep, reddish yellow.
The subject is taken from Herodotus: the judge Sisamnes, who had been guilty of prevarication, was arrested and punished by Cambyses, the King of Persia. For his crimes, Sisamnes was condemned to be flayed alive. Cambyses then appointed the judge’s son Otanes to serve in his father’s place. Vellert based this pane to a later account of the story, which states that Cambyses ordered Sisamnes’ skin to be hung above Otanes’ seat.