SAINT ROCH Burgundy, late 15th - early 16th century... Lot 19

SAINT ROCH Burgundy, late 15th - early 16th century Wood; polychromy H. 124 cm (without base: H. 82.5 cm) Plinth dated 1749 and emblazoned: crowned shield quartered on 1 & 4, in checkerboard pattern with three eagles; on 2 & 3, palyed in saltire, with a wheel on top Saint Roch wears here the wide-brimmed hat of the pilgrims to Rome, stamped with keys in saltire. Born in Montpellier in the 14th century, he went to Rome as a young man, in the middle of the plague epidemic. He took care of the plague victims on his way there until he too was struck down by the disease. Staff in hand, our saint is dressed in a short tunic belted at the waist under a large cape buttoned at the shoulder and wearing square-toed boots. He is recognisable by the wound on his thigh, which he reveals by spreading the flaps of his clothes with both hands in a movement comparable to that of Saint Roch of Saulieu (fig. 1). His hands open the cloak in the direction of the height. Ours has a more hieratic posture, closer to that of the pilgrim saints of Créancey. Saint Protais has an equally youthful figure, his lips pursed forward (fig. 2). His tunic with large flat folds falls straight like the cloak of our Saint Roch.