Tiberius Gracchus

Tiberius Gracchus by the Master of the Griselda Legend, in Budapest's Museum of Fine Arts, depicts the Roman tribune whose populist land reforms in 133 BC triggered the political crisis that ultimately destroyed the Roman Republic. Tiberius Gracchus — shown here as a single figure in a series likely depicting Roman heroes or exempla virtutis — was a standard subject in Renaissance humanist programs celebrating Roman civic virtue and political courage. The Master of the Griselda Legend, who demonstrated his narrative sophistication in the Griselda panels, here applies that same clarity to a secular historical portrait, following the Renaissance fashion for uomini famosi cycles in patrician interiors.

The figure of Tiberius Gracchus is rendered in a format typical of uomini famosi series — a single standing or seated figure in pseudo-antique dress against an architectural or plain background. The master uses the warm descriptive palette of his secular narrative panels, with careful attention to the figure's identifying attributes or inscription.