# Can anyone tell me what is depicted in this picture? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 6, 2011, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-tell-me-what-is-depicted-in-this-picture/591783 "2011-08-06T23:23:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![zeno](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zeno/32/15040_2.png) [@zeno](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zeno)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2011, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-tell-me-what-is-depicted-in-this-picture/591783/21 "2011-08-07T01:33:27Z")
One other thing, the picture was found in an old frame, behind another picture. It’s decades old at least. ---
**Author:** ![SeldomSeen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7ba0ec/32.png) [@SeldomSeen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SeldomSeen)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2011, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-tell-me-what-is-depicted-in-this-picture/591783/22 "2011-08-07T02:12:36Z")
Interesting picture. For some reason I’m picking up a bit of an “Eastern” vibe, for want of a better word. It does appear to be a religious depiction…maybe a scene from one of the Eastern Orthodox faiths? Or, just possibly something from Hindu tradition? ---
**Author:** ![davidm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidm/32/225_2.png) [@davidm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidm)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2011, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-tell-me-what-is-depicted-in-this-picture/591783/23 "2011-08-07T02:18:09Z")
> [@zeno](#): > > One other thing, the picture was found in an old frame, behind another picture. It’s decades old at least. Was this found by you or someone you know, or is it something you read about somewhere, or what? Is it an actual painting/drawing, or is it a print? If you have access to it, are there any markings on the back? signatures on the front? What picture was it behind? Where was the frame? Was this in a church, an old attic, where? I notice that on the right, about a third if the way down, on what appears to be a hillside, there are some markings that may or may not be random. Are they clearer in the original? Are they perhaps a signature or date? ---
**Author:** ![zeno](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zeno/32/15040_2.png) [@zeno](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zeno)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2011, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-tell-me-what-is-depicted-in-this-picture/591783/24 "2011-08-07T02:23:01Z")
It was a home made frame and it came out of an old house. It was behind a picture of an eagle. I don’t know anything else about it. ---
**Author:** ![Wallydraigle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c0e974/32.png) [@Wallydraigle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wallydraigle)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2011, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-tell-me-what-is-depicted-in-this-picture/591783/25 "2011-08-07T02:24:46Z")
> [@guestchaz](#): > > my first thought before reading the thread was a scene from the story of the good samaritan Indeed. ---
**Author:** ![zeno](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zeno/32/15040_2.png) [@zeno](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zeno)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2011, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-tell-me-what-is-depicted-in-this-picture/591783/26 "2011-08-07T02:25:56Z")
hold on. This was drawn on the back [http://i.imgur.com/S4kKl.jpg](http://i.imgur.com/S4kKl.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![davidm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidm/32/225_2.png) [@davidm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidm)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2011, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-tell-me-what-is-depicted-in-this-picture/591783/27 "2011-08-07T02:26:53Z")
> [@zeno](#): > > It was a home made frame and it came out of an old house. It was behind a picture of an eagle. I don’t know anything else about it. You haven’t seen the actual picture yourself? ---
**Author:** ![davidm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidm/32/225_2.png) [@davidm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidm)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2011, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-tell-me-what-is-depicted-in-this-picture/591783/28 "2011-08-07T02:28:16Z")
> [@zeno](#): > > hold on. This was drawn on the back > [http://i.imgur.com/S4kKl.jpg](http://i.imgur.com/S4kKl.jpg) Interesting. ---
**Author:** ![zeno](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zeno/32/15040_2.png) [@zeno](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zeno)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2011, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-tell-me-what-is-depicted-in-this-picture/591783/29 "2011-08-07T02:28:37Z")
> [@davidm](#): > > You haven’t seen the actual picture yourself? I have not. It is out of state. ---
**Author:** ![Quasimodem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/e274bd/32.png) [@Quasimodem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quasimodem)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2011, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-tell-me-what-is-depicted-in-this-picture/591783/30 "2011-08-07T02:43:07Z")
_JOKE ALERT, No disrespect to the OP intended!_ ======================================= The first respiratory therapist checking to see if that guy’s moving any air. ======================================= 🙂 Not that funny, I know, but it might be if you are (or were, in my case) an RT! Quasi ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2011, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-tell-me-what-is-depicted-in-this-picture/591783/31 "2011-08-07T02:57:59Z")
> [@Quasimodem](#): > > The first respiratory therapist checking to see if that guy’s moving any air. And the guy on the right is thinking tracheotomy. ---
**Author:** ![TruCelt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trucelt/32/523_2.png) [@TruCelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TruCelt)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2011, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-tell-me-what-is-depicted-in-this-picture/591783/32 "2011-08-07T02:59:12Z")
It looks like an illustration out of a 1950’s Sunday school book, to me. The central figure seems to be the man listening to the chest (physician?) rather than the dying figure. The sword is suggestive but there’s no blood. The friar (novice?) on the right seems to be considering taking up the sword. Could be just an illustration of "[FONT=TimesNewRoman][SIZE=2]All they that take the sword shall perish with the sword.”[/SIZE][/FONT] [SIZE=2][/SIZE] [SIZE=2]I can’t see the second link, would someone be kind enough to describe it? [/SIZE] ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2011, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-tell-me-what-is-depicted-in-this-picture/591783/33 "2011-08-07T03:00:30Z")
> [@Boyo\_Jim](#): > > I agree with this , but while the time depicted in the drawing may well be medieval, it was drawn much later, The three dimensionality and shadowing make me think it is at least renaissance and maybe post-renaissance. 19th century. Time depicted is 19th century. I don’t even see a tonsure. Boots, sword do not a saint make (at least in recent centuries). Perhaps a local miracle, where the loser swordsman rises improbably to health, ie the man kneeling is actually checking the swordsman’s life. The tall man clearly is a close witness and arbitrator, unlike the two women in the back. ---
**Author:** ![davidm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidm/32/225_2.png) [@davidm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidm)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2011, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-tell-me-what-is-depicted-in-this-picture/591783/34 "2011-08-07T03:46:13Z")
> [@TruCelt](#): > > …I can’t see the second link, would someone be kind enough to describe it? You mean the one **zeno** posted of what was on the back? It’s a bunch of random partial rough sketches like an artist practicing. I think they’re pencil or charcoal or something similar. None of them bear any real resemblance to anything in the actual picture. One appears to be a woman (possibly a queen?) on a throne. They don’t appear to me to be as skilled as the actual picture, but they could be idle doodles. ---
**Author:** ![APB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8e8cbc/32.png) [@APB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/APB)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2011, 7:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-tell-me-what-is-depicted-in-this-picture/591783/35 "2011-08-07T07:06:07Z")
I agree with **Colibri** that they’re meant to be Dominicians. That one of them is holding a rosary further strengthens that assumption. > [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Keep in mind that just because the figures are wearing medieval clothing doesn’t mean it’s a medieval scene. Artists often use anachronistic contemporary fashions for historical subjects. [QUOTE=Zeno] We should note that historical accuracy was not paramount for artists of different eras. It was common to portray people of ancient times in contemporary clothing. [/QUOTE] [QUOTE=brazil84] I agree. For example, in Campin’s Merode Altarpiece, the Annunciation to Mary has Mary as a medieval Dutch girl. Saint Joseph appears to be at work in Amsterdam or some other medieval European city. [/QUOTE] Well yes, but the style is nineteenth century or later, when the opposite was true and when (however overconfidently) most artists of historical subjects prided themselves on their accuracy. One possible subject could be St Dominic’s resurrection of Napoleone Orsini. Which is an extremely rare subject in art. Especially as this version seems to show the discovery of the body rather than the miracle of the resurrection. However, compare Lorenzo Lotto’s much earlier [painting on the subject](http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Lorenzo_Lotto_-_St_Dominic_Raises_Napoleone_Orsini_-_WGA13669.jpg). ---
**Author:** ![Fourtyfold](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f475e1/32.png) [@Fourtyfold](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fourtyfold)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2011, 9:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-tell-me-what-is-depicted-in-this-picture/591783/36 "2011-08-07T09:26:35Z")
Looks to me like a litho plate from a book, late 19th/early 20th c at a wild guess. So the scene being shown could be just about anything, fact, fable or fiction. APB’s theory does sound very plausable though. ---
**Author:** ![Blake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a9a28c/32.png) [@Blake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blake)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2011, 9:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-tell-me-what-is-depicted-in-this-picture/591783/37 "2011-08-07T09:38:35Z")
FWIW: The figures in the background are not obviously women. They too seem to be monks/friars. The stopping figure appears to be holding a bottle, which he is temporarily stopping with a cloth. This suggests that he has just administered medicine. The sword is broken. I’ve seen this used in a few illustrations to indicate someone who has literally thrown themselves on their own sword. So maybe a suicide? ---
**Author:** ![Chickenwrangler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chickenwrangler/32/91_2.png) [@Chickenwrangler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chickenwrangler)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2011, 9:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-tell-me-what-is-depicted-in-this-picture/591783/38 "2011-08-07T09:42:32Z")
> [@Boyo\_Jim](#): > > FYI, if you drag the image into the google image search box, it will show you “visually similar” images. It is the worst search outcome ever, including a closeup of a mongrel dog, some kind of monkeys, a WWI photo, etc. Just terrible comparisons! You can do that ? ---
**Author:** ![Uber\_the\_Goober](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/58956e/32.png) [@Uber\_the\_Goober](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uber_the_Goober)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2011, 12:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-tell-me-what-is-depicted-in-this-picture/591783/39 "2011-08-07T12:52:42Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Keep in mind that just because the figures are wearing medieval clothing doesn’t mean it’s a medieval scene. Artists often use anachronistic contemporary fashions for historical subjects. > > So it could be King Saul, who committed suicide by stabbing himself with a sword: Ahem. King Saul would not have used that type of sword. Neither would the priest praying over him have used a rosary to do so. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2011, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-tell-me-what-is-depicted-in-this-picture/591783/40 "2011-08-07T13:47:01Z")
> [@echo6160](#): > > Ahem. King Saul would not have used that type of sword. Neither would the priest praying over him have used a rosary to do so. I probably should have pointed out how artists often use anachronistic contemporary fashions for historical subjects. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-tell-me-what-is-depicted-in-this-picture/591783.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-tell-me-what-is-depicted-in-this-picture/591783.md?page=3)