Ercole de' Roberti, 'The Israelites gathering Manna', probably 1490s

This is a panel from the lower part of an altarpiece, which is known as the predella. The central panel showing The Institution of the Eucharist is also in the National Gallery’s collection. People in a variety of poses – some crouching, others kneeling – scoop up what looks like pebbles into jars, bags and even aprons. The whole community have come to help – young and old, women and men, and mothers with their babies.

They are the Jewish people, making their way from Egypt to the promised land of Israel, and the precious cargo they are scrabbling to gather is bread (called manna) that appeared miraculously every morning to feed them while they were in the desert. The story comes from Exodus: ‘The Lord said to Moses and Aaron who were leading the Jews, "Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you; and the people shall go out and gather a day’s portion every day."’ (Exodus 16: 4). When the bread appeared it looked like a covering of ground frost and by the afternoon it was no longer fresh; they had to gather up as much as they could early in the morning.

Aaron and Moses are shown standing on the left, overseeing the activity. Their elegantly folded draperies and graceful gestures contrast with the solid figures of the Israelites, whose realistic poses are probably based on preliminary life drawings. In the foreground a woman sits on her red dress, revealing her bent legs and thighs; behind her a hefty woman greedily empties a jar into her mouth. Other figures, like the semi-naked man on the right with the pot on his head, look out of place by comparison. His stance may be inspired by classical sculpture, a learned reference that would have pleased a courtly patron.

This biblical narrative was appropriate because the bread of heaven (manna) sent to sustain the Israelites was thought to be a precursor for the bread of the Eucharist: the body of Christ, eaten at Mass. The ‘heavenly bread’ of Jesus’s body was represented in the main panel of the altarpiece, once immediately above this: it showed Christ’s dead body on the lap of his grieving mother, surrounded by mourners. A scene showing the Last Supper, also called The Institution of the Eucharist was placed next to to this panel, further reinforcing the theme. It is possible that this scene also decorated a box where the bread eaten at the communion was stored.

The elaborate wooden structures with curtained walls in the background are the Jews' tents, pitched in the wilderness. Ercole emphasises their temporary nature by showing one still under construction on the far left of the scene. The tents have been arranged so that they create a rhythmic backdrop to the scene; all the action takes place facing the viewer, creating the effect of a stage set. The Duke of Ferrara, who may have been the patron of this picture, would have been familiar with this kind of setting: he staged classical dramas at his palace in the city when huts like these would be assembled either inside the palace or in the courtyard.

The picture surface is fairly worn and looks less crisp than it would have originally; the image was transferred from its wooden panel to canvas in 1829. This has changed its appearance – a faint shadow between two of the tents on the left shows that there was once a mountain there, mirroring the one on the right. We know this from a sixteenth-century copy of the picture now in the Gemäldegalerie, Dresden.