The Beheaded Saints Felix, Regula and Exuperantius

In the early legend of Zurich's patron saints there were only two martyrs, Felix and his sister Regula. Their servant Exuperantius joins the story in the 13th century, and by the middle of the 14th century the city's seal showed all three, each with a head in hand. An Austrian painter made this panel around 1480 to 1490, far from Zurich. The three stand close together, the stumps of their necks red, holding their own haloed heads against their chests with shut eyes. They are a bearded old man, a young woman with long hair and a young man in a red cloak. The legend says they walked some 40 paces uphill to their grave. Behind them rolls a wide green landscape with a small church tower at the edge, and pink clouds are laid over the gold of the sky.