worked in wools and silks to depict events of the war between Cyrus and Tomyris, Queen of the Massagetae, taken from Herodotus, Histories, 1.205-211, including to our right foreground the Queen and her son Spargapises before a kneeling emissary proposing marriage between the rulers and to the left with Cyrus in his tent dreaming of Darius the Great whose wings overshadow Europe and Asia, the wooded hilly background falling to the winding river Araxes which Cyrus’s troops cross with towers mounted on boats, 247.5 x 360cm

Cyrus the Great and Queen Tomyris were popular subjects in Renaissance art, Cyrus seen as a model prince balancing military prowess with virtuous leadership, whilst Queen Tomyris personified ‘Weibermacht’ (Power of Women). The Queen rejects Cyrus’s marriage proposal, seeing it as a ploy to gain her lands, leading to their battles and eventually to the deaths of Spargapises and Cyrus. Cyrus’s dream foretells the great empire of Darius, who seized power following the death of his cousin and son of Cyrus, Cambyses.