Saint Erasmus stands dressed in luxurious episcopal vestments, on the left. He holds in his right hand the testimony of his martyrdom, the spindle wrapped in entrails torn from his body with a ship's winch. Opposite him stands Saint Maurice, believed to have been of black African origin, in a silver armor. He addresses Saint Erasmus by raising his hand clad in a white glove. Maurice, according to the legend, was the leader of the "Thebes Legion", in which only Christian soldiers served. This legion was stationed at Thebes in Egypt and was slain because of their refusal to take part in the persecution of Christians during the reign of Diocletian. Behind St. Erasmus there is a gray-haired abbot, a scholar and an adviser to the archbishop. Behind St. Maurice, there are its hardened soldiers. The poses, movements, clothing, facial expressions and colors of the four figures depicted in the painting brilliantly characterize the various strata of the medieval society. A leader of the clergy in Europe meets a leader of the soldiers in Africa. This, one might say, represents a church-political meeting on the world stage, a testimony of the power and splendor of Catholicism on two continents.[2][3]
