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The three panels in the Brera painted by an anonymous follower of Giotto, representing scenes from the life of St Colomba, belonged to a triptych, probably executed for the old cathedral of Rimini, dedicated to St Colomba and demolished in 1815. According to a plausible theory that is not universally accepted by scholars, the panels belonged to a double-faced composition placed on the high altar of the cathedral. Other panels of this work are in the Musée Jacquemart-André, Paris; the Galleria Sabauda, Turin; and the Friedenthal collection, Ingenheim.
Freer and more animated, the composition of The Beheading of St Colomba is based on the repeating rhythms of the figures, the lances, the shields and the trees. The line of the hills is reflected in the frail body of the decapitated saint, which forms an elegant, undulating pattern.
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