The Sack of Rome by the Vandals (455)

This painting depicts the Sack of Rome in AD 455 by the Vandals led by King Genseric. Forty-five years after the first sack of the city by the Visigoths, Rome was once again plundered, this time in a more prolonged and systematic way. The Vandals carried off wealth, artworks, and captives, further weakening a city already in decline. This scene illustrates the gradual loss of Rome’s prestige and power, foreshadowing the imminent fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476.