In the context of this artwork, analyze the Subject of the Description.
The painting represents one of the many tortures suffered by Erasmus of Formia, Bishop of Antioch, taken by an angel to southern Italy, and pursued by the persecutions of Maximian Hercules. The torture represented here does not come from the Roman Martyrology but from the Golden Legend of Jacobus de Voragine. The emperor ordered that he be tied to a table and his intestines extracted by a windlass. This is the last torture suffered by the saint before his death, according to legend. The emperor would have ordered the saint to sacrifice to the gods, and he would have replied that he "refused to sacrifice to the stone gods whom you resemble". Then, once taken to the temple of Jupiter, the statue would have collapsed into dust. The statue here represented at the top right does not represent Jupiter but Hercules, recalling the nickname of the emperor.
Jupiter Maximian Roman Martyrology Erasmus of Formia Jacobus de Voragine Martyr emperor Golden Legend Maximian Hercules