Pope Sixtus II. bids farewell to St. Lawrence

The medieval legend of Saint Lawrence sets this scene just before his own martyrdom. Pope Sixtus is being led away to his death, and his young deacon calls after him, asking where a father goes without his son. Sixtus answers that he will follow in three days. Pacher puts the old pope in his triple crown between two soldiers, one in gilded armour and a towering pointed hat who grips his arm, another in steel plate with a red cap. The saint stands apart at the left in a red brocade vestment, his hand held out. Behind them red beams and a tiled floor run straight back into depth. The Belvedere points to this carefully built perspective as a sign that Pacher had trained in Italy. The panel entered the collections of the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna in 1913.