This painting by Mazzolino is a fragment: the poplar panel must have been cut down in size on all sides; the off-centre grooved channel on the back clearly appears to belongs to a larger painting, and the work may originally have been twice as high and three times as wide. The horses galloping away in the distance and some of the figures on the right were uncovered during recent conservation. The subject is probably St Louis (recognised by his gold fleur-de-lys) receiving a fragment of the recently discovered True Cross. The painting is usually dated to the early 1520s by comparison with other works by Mazzolino.

The central soldier is a figure in authority, his helmet decorated with a white plume, his white horse wearing a blue cloth decorated with gold fleur-de-lys. He seems to be accepting what looks like an arrow from the soldier, whose mouth is open with emotion. He is accompanied by two exotic figures, one turbaned and one veiled. It has been suggested that this was part of a Crucifixion, or part of a Way to Calvary. It is possible, however, that the fragment illustrates another story, taken from the Legend of the True Cross. The lance with which the Centurion (St Longinus) pierced Christ’s side was venerated at Jerusalem, until that city was occupied in the seventh century by the Persian King Chrosoe II. The point of the lance was then broken off and taken to Constantinople, and much later, in 1244, sold by Baldwin II of Constantinople to Louis IX of France, who took it to Paris. The rest of the lance was given to Pope Innocent VIII in 1492 and is preserved in St Peter’s, Rome. If the ‘arrow’ is a tip of a lance, then this may represent a scene from this story, perhaps when Louis acquired the sacred relic from Baldwin II. Louis IX - St Louis - was revered as the ideal Christian monarch who undertook the Seventh and Eighth Crusades. He was frequently shown, as here, in blue with his emblem, the fleur-de-lys. If this is the subject intended here then it would fit with the upsurge of interest in the Crusades and in tales of Christian knights in Ferrara at this time. This type of subject matter seems to be unique in Mazzolino’s work.

The exotic costumes in this piece can also be found in Cesare Vecellio’s 'De gli habiti antichi et moderni di diverso parti del mondo' published in Venice in 1590 and 1598: the turban resembles one worn by Vecellio’s illustration of an Egyptian rather than a Turk. Mazzolino used similar turbans to suggest the exotic, often Jewish or Old Testament figures in his biblical scenes, such as the 'Pieta' (1512), 'Christ among the Doctors' (c.1521) and 'The Massacre of the Innocents' (1519-20; all in the Galleria Doria Pamphilij, Rome), and his 'Crossing of the Red Sea' (1521; National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin).

Recent conservation has revealed the meticulous delineation of the trappings of the soldiers, the use of gold both decorating the armour and suggesting the fall of light, as on the back of most central soldier in the foreground. The use of gold was a typical trait of Ferrarese artists, others being Costa and Garofalo. Mazzolino was influenced by the strong miniature tradition at the court of Ferrara, which had produced the famous Bible of Borso d’Este of 1455-61 (Biblioteca Estense, Modena). Mazzolino’s vitality of line and interest in the grotesque probably derived from northern prints, especially those by Dürer, who was in Ferrara in 1506. The energy and focused gazes of the horseman reveal a debt to Leonardo’s famous lost masterpiece, 'The Battle of Anghiari'.

Catalogue entry adapted from The Art of Italy in the Royal Collection: Renaissance and Baroque, London, 2007