Julius Caesar's assassination

Jacopo da Sellaio painted this assassination of Julius Caesar around 1480 as a companion panel to the pre-assassination scene. The murder of Caesar in the Senate, depicted by Shakespeare and ancient historians, was a dramatic subject that Florentine patrons found politically relevant. Such paired narrative panels typically adorned cassoni or wall panels in patrician homes. The tempera medium required careful preparation on a gessoed panel and a disciplined layering technique that produced precise, durable surfaces suited to the intricate detail expected of devotional painting.

Tempera on panel with violent narrative action within a classical architectural setting. The assassination scene demonstrates Sellaio's ability to depict dramatic historical events with narrative energy.