dagmaraka wrote:but my guy is most definitely in a graveyard (there's a headstone behind him, and angels, and an open casket), so what he holds may actually be a shovel, like littlek suggests... certainly unusual, even if it's cut out of a bigger painting.
You aren't serious here, are you?
Roman centurii carried a "vitis" (= vine stick).
This became later the 'officer's stick' - today still used in the British armed forces.
Not unusual at all on paintings of showing such persons, I think.
