ROMAN SCHOOL, 17TH CENTURY | AN EPISODE FROM THE LIFE OF SAINT DENIS

Legend has it that after Saint Denis' decapitation, ordered by the Roman Emperor Decius, the bishop picked up his own head, as it went on to deliver a sermon, and walked out of the city of Paris before he fell to the ground and died at the spot where the Cathedral Basilica of Saint Denis now stands. Since Saint Denis, as patron saint of France, holds a closer connection with that country than any other, it is possible that the present work - though Italianate in style - was painted by a French artist working in Rome.