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.

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.

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.

[2][3] The image of Saint Erasmus actually depicts the commissioner of this painting, known from numerous portraits of that time, Albert of Brandenburg, who was in 1514 the archbishop of Mainz and Magdeburg, and the bishop of Halberstadt.

In 1518 he was made a cardinal by Pope Leo X, and later would be chancellor of the Holy Roman Empire, during which tenure he was a fanatical and powerful opponent of the Protestant Reformation.