PLATE X (Face Page 108)
S. ROCH.
BY AMBROGIO BORGOGNONE
Photograph by Anderson, Rome
PLATE XI (Face Page 109)
AN INTERCESSORY PLAGUE PICTURE
BY NIKLAUS MANUEL.
S. ROCH TENDED BY AN ANGEL
A picture by the Swiss painter, Niklaus Manuel (a.d. 1484-1530), at Basle, painted in tempera on linen, [shows St. Roch] with a little angel tending his wound. It is typical of a large group of [intercessory plague pictures]. At the summit of the picture is the Almighty in glory in the heavens. Beneath Him is St. Anna with the Virgin Mary and the Child Jesus: they are placed between the Almighty and the plague-stricken to indicate that they are the appropriate medium of intercession. They are flanked on the one side by St. Roch, and on the other by St. James. St. Anna appears in many pictures of this period, as Pope Alexander II in 1494 promoted her worship, by making her feast-day one of the chief festivals of the Church. At the foot of the picture is a rough delineation of the city attacked by plague: on the right of it, a group representing probably the donors of the picture: on the left, a group of sufferers, two of whom show plague marks on their limbs. On the woman’s arm is a raised sore: on the man’s arm black petechial blotches, on his body large circular spots, and an open red ulcer on the inner side of his leg.