The Israelites gathering Manna

In the Book of Exodus the Israelites, hungry in the desert after their escape from Egypt, find the ground covered each morning with bread sent from heaven, which they call manna. For a Christian of the 1490s the story pointed forward to the bread of the Mass, which is why it belongs at the base of an altarpiece dedicated to Christ's body. There this long, low panel sat just to the right of a Last Supper, which also hangs here in Room 55. Ercole de' Roberti turns the camp into something like a stage set, with a row of wooden tents behind and a flat, bright ground in front. Moses and Aaron stand at the far left, watching. Almost everyone else bends, kneels or crouches, scooping the grains into bowls, jars and cloths. In 1829 the paint was taken off its wooden panel and moved onto canvas.