St Roch

St Roch lifts the edge of his tunic and points at a round sore on his thigh. By his legend he was a pilgrim from Montpellier who nursed plague victims in Italy, caught the disease himself and recovered, so people prayed to him when plague struck. The rest of the figure marks the traveller: the pilgrim's staff, the leather satchel on its strap, the heavy boots, a red cape over a green coat and a soft pink hat. The dog that usually brings him bread is left out. Behind him is a plain dark wall. This was the outer face of a wing, the side seen when the altar was shut. Its gilded inner side, a St Odilia, was sawn off at some point and is now a separate panel. Both come from the Marian altar that Marx Reichlich's workshop painted around 1500 for St Peter's Abbey in Salzburg.