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Originally Posted by motan
Hi David,
I am not an expert on swords at all, and I am sure that other forum members could spin fantastic theories about this sword.
However, this is a very old painting, probably early renaissance, depicting the beheading of a saint, who was probably martyred in the event. Realism is not very strong in paintings from that period. I can not reconize the country of origin the painting or the specific saint, but most of those events happend even much earlier and in places far away.
So there is a good probability that the sword is not of a real type known to the painter, but was born out of his imagination intended to look exotic ..
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Good point, and we should expect artistic license as well as inaccurate rendering. Nevertheless, a Russian artist in the 1500's depicted a recurved blade. I wasn't aware the form was that old.