The Conquest of Naples by Charles of Durazzo

This rare secular narrative panel depicts the 1381 conquest of Naples by Charles of Durazzo, who seized the throne from Queen Joanna I during the turmoil of the Western Schism. The anonymous artist known as the Master of Charles of Durazzo is named after this very work, which provides a remarkable record of contemporary political events rendered in the decorative idiom of late Trecento painting. Such historical narrative panels were uncommon in an era dominated by religious commissions, making this a valuable document of Gothic secular art.

Painted in egg tempera on panel, the composition employs the continuous narrative technique typical of Gothic painting, with multiple episodes arranged across the picture surface. The military figures, architectural elements, and heraldic details are rendered with the precise linear style of late fourteenth-century Italian panel painting.