magistrates' court where it was hung originally. The painting is inspired by the story of the judgment of Cambyses as recounted by the Greek historian Herodotus in book V of the Histories written in 430 BC. The Histories describes the history of the Persian empire and the Persian kings. The Cambyses in the painting is king Cambyses II, who ruled from 530 to 523 BC. According to Herodotus, when Cambyses learned that the royal judge Sisamnes had accepted a bribe, he had him promptly arrested and sentenced him to be flayed alive. Cambyses then appointed Otanes, son of the condemned Sisamnes, as his father's replacement. In order to remind the son of what happens to corrupt judges, Cambyses ordered that the new judge's chair be draped in the skin of the flayed Sisamnes so that he should not forget the importance of judicial integrity. The story of the corrupt Sisamnes inspired various Northern painters, including Gerard David, Antoon Claeissens, Claes Jacobsz van der Heck, Martin Hermann Faber, Joachim Wtewael and Rubens. David painted a diptych, in which he tells the four parts of the story. In the background of the first panel Sisamnes accepts a bribe while the main scene in the foreground shows the judge's sentencing. The foreground of the second panel shows the flaying of the judge while the background depicts the young judge sitting on his judge's chair which is covered in the skin of his father Sisamnes. In his composition, Boucquet focuses on the scene where Cambyses shows the young judge to his chair with his sceptre. The chair is draped in his father's skin with the face of the father clearly recognisable. In the background we can see the flaying of the corrupt judge. At the far left of the composition is a statue of the blindfolded Justice with scales and sword. References External links 1619 births 1677 deaths People from Veurne 17th-century Flemish painters Flemish Baroque painters Flemish portrait painters Flemish history painters