Saint Erasmus

This bishop is Erasmus, said to have died in the persecutions under the Roman emperor Diocletian, and he holds up the instrument of his death. His legend says his torturers wound his intestines out of his body on a windlass, and that is the pink coil wrapped around the shaft of the crank in his hand. One explanation often given is that the windlass began as a sign that he protected sailors, and the gruesome story grew out of the picture later. Around 1510 people prayed to him against pains of the stomach. Here he stands on a stony path in a gold-embroidered cope and a jewelled mitre, gripping his crozier, with a castle on a crag behind him. The museum's caption calls the painter a follower of Lucas Cranach the Elder, while its catalogue entry files the panel under Cranach's workshop.