Saints Jerome, Leonard and Nicholas

In 1897 the imperial picture gallery in Vienna bought this panel from the Capuchin friary at Ried im Innkreis, in Upper Austria. The Belvedere dates it to the last quarter of the 15th century, naming only an Upper Austrian painter. The saints stand on a chequered floor against a dark ground, each known by what he carries. Jerome wears the red robes and broad red hat of a cardinal, a hat cardinals received only in the 13th century, long after his death, and he tends the paw of the lion that, the legend says, stayed with him after he pulled out a thorn. Nicholas, in mitre and cope, holds a book with three golden balls, the gold he secretly gave three poor sisters so they could marry. Between them, in a monk's habit, stands Leonard with a chain and an open shackle. He was the saint of prisoners, and in the farming country of Bavaria and Austria he also watched over horses and cattle.