The Caesars

Antonio Verrio decorated the King's Staircase for William III as a grand entrance to his new royal apartments at Hampton Court. The room is a typically Baroque piece of trompe l'oeil art, with the staircase transformed into an open courtyard, surrounded by two ranks of columns and pillars, and open to the sky. Within this illusionistic stage, Verrio has interpreted The Caesars, a satirical story composed by the 4th century Roman emperor and author, Julian 'the Apostate'. This colourful tale pokes fun at the various flaws and failures of Roman emperors and introduces the heroic figure of Alexander the Great as a rival candidate to be considered for a place among the gods of Olympus.

Alexander appears on the left of the east wall, supported by his promoter Herakles. Opposite are assembled a row of Roman emperors, introduced by Romulus, competing for a place at the 'Banquet of the Gods' on the empty table above them. Despite Romulus' best intentions, Rome's past rulers are dismissed, accompanied by caustic comments about their reputation and character from Seilenos, the Olympian court jester - shown here on his donkey and below the god Dionysos and to the left of the goddess Artemis, astride her crescent moon.

Julian's text actually raises the emperor Marcus Aurelius as the victor of the competition, as the wisest of rulers. But Verrio has altered the focus of the composition, with Alexander supported by the winged figure of Victory, while the figure of Justice, with her burning sword, descends upon the Roman emperors, who are also, for good measure, spat upon by four monstrous bat-winged, serpent-tailed 'Furies'. Verrio's intended message is that William III, masquerading as Alexander and associated with the heroic virtue of Herakles, has a better claim to immortality as a great ruler than the Stuart dynasty that he supplanted during the 'Glorious Revolution' of 1688.