8. Gerard David – The Judgement Of Cambyses 1488
The Judgement of Cambyses is a diptych by Dutch artist Gerard David, depicting the arrest and flaying of the corrupt Persian judge Sisamnes on the order of Cambyses, based on Herodotus’s Histories. The diptych was commissioned in 1488 by the municipal authorities of Bruges which requested a series of panels for the deputy burgomaster’s room in the town hall. The top right corner of the flaying scene features Sisamnes’ son dispensing justice from his father’s chair, now draped with the flayed skin, it seems a bit late for an appeal after that?