St Roch with an Angel

The subject of this work is based on the legendary description of the life of St Roch, a healer and protector against the „Black Death“, revered since the Middle Ages. According to the legends, the saint travelled to Rome at the time when the epidemic of plague broke out. Outside the city of Piacenza, whose distinct outline is presented in the bas relief in the background of the scene, Roch sat down on the trunk of a massive tree in a rocky terrain. On that spot a heavenly messenger arrived near him and with his touch healed his plague affliction, for he had contracted the disease when helping the sick. The compositional concept of the relief attests 159 to the use of an unknown Mannerist model. Tradition holds that this carving came from a brewery house in Pilsen, and it was brilliantly restored some years ago. Under a number of overpaintings, the restoration revealed the original polychromy featuring lavish gilt and coloured glazes on silver.