Saint Vitus Renounces Worldly Pleasures

In the years this panel was painted, saints' legends were reaching print in German for the first time. In 1471 and 1472 the Augsburg printer Günther Zainer brought out Der Heiligen Leben, a collection of 251 of them that ran to more than 40 editions. Vitus, still a boy, has become a Christian, and his pagan father tries to win him back with pleasure, sending musicians and girls to his room. Young women in brocade press forward with a lute and a harp. The boy raises a hand and turns aside. Behind him stand an old man with a staff and a woman in a white headcloth, both haloed, most likely his tutor Modestus and his nurse Crescentia. In the arched doorway a crowd of angels has gathered. In the legend the father looked in, saw angels beside his son, and went blind.