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Secondary sourcePaintingc. 1515-1520

Trajan in Description des douze Césars

Jean Bourdichon · c. 1515-1520

A Renaissance roundel by Jean Bourdichon, made about 1515-1520, showing Trajan among the twelve Caesars. It shows how the emperor was imagined in a later manuscript.

This Renaissance portrait shows Trajan as one of the twelve Caesars, an image of how he was remembered centuries later.

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Painted roundel portrait in profile of a man with a gold laurel wreath in brown hair, wearing a gold armor breastplate with a lion-head detail and blue cloak, against a deep blue background, inside a gold frame. The label below reads TRAIANVS.
Jean Bourdichon, Trajan, from Description des douze Césars avec leurs figures, c. 1515-1520.

About this source

What it is

This is a painted roundel portrait by Jean Bourdichon, dated c. 1515-1520, from the manuscript Description des douze Césars avec leurs figures. It shows Trajan in profile with a gold laurel wreath in his brown hair. He wears a gold armour breastplate with a lion-head detail and a blue cloak, set against a deep blue background inside a gold frame. The label below reads TRAIANVS, which is Latin.

Why it matters

The series of Caesar portraits was a way for Renaissance readers to learn about Rome's emperors through images. Bourdichon painted Trajan as a figure from the past dressed in the styles of his own time. The label and laurel wreath show how the emperor was identified and honoured. The portrait tells us about Renaissance interest in Rome as much as about Trajan himself.

Look closer

  • What details of the armour and wreath tell us that Trajan is being honoured?
  • Why might the artist have placed him in a profile view within a round frame?
  • What does one portrait leave out about Trajan's actual achievements and the people he ruled?

This painting is part of the curated material that grounds the AI version of Trajan on Humy.ai — when students ask about related events, the AI can quote it and cite it.

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