Epitaph of Jodok Hauser

A knight named Jodok Hauser died in 1478, and this panel was made so that people would go on praying for him. Many then believed that the prayers of the living could shorten a soul's time in purgatory, so a memorial like this worked as a standing request, hung where churchgoers would see it. The inscription along the bottom of the frame does the asking. It opens with a German line praising Christ, and the Latin that follows gives the year 1478, names the knight and ends with the wish that his soul rest in peace. Above it, Hauser kneels in armour at the foot of the cross with his coat of arms beside him. His wife kneels opposite in a white veil, with their three small children pressed close to her. Behind everyone runs a gold ground patterned with leaves and flowers.