Saint Cyriacus with a Donor

A line of Gothic script is painted across the tiled floor of this panel. It names the saint, Cyriacus, and gives the year 1472. The historical Cyriacus was a deacon in Rome around 300, and legend credits him with driving a demon out of the emperor Diocletian's daughter, so painters usually show him in a deacon's robes with a book of exorcisms. This painter kept the book, open on his lap, but set a pope's triple crown on his head and a tall cross-staff in his hand. The Belvedere lists the work as attributed to a painter from Passau. Behind the seated saint hangs a green patterned cloth, and above it an arcade of red columns opens onto a walled town crowded with towers.