One of the most famous pictures of St. Roch is the altar-piece by Rubens, at Alost, near Brussels. The upper part of the picture shows the interior of a prison illuminated by a supernatural light. St. Roch kneels looking up into the face of Christ, in radiant gratitude, as he receives his commission as patron saint against the plague. An angel holds a tablet on which is written, ‘Eris in peste patronus,’ in allusion to the words revealed in his cell at his death.
Statues of St. Roch are hardly so frequently met with as those of Sebastian: he was a less attractive model for sculptors. In the Musée of Grenoble is a quaint archaic wooden figure of St. Roch of the early fifteenth century, which stood formerly in the chapel of the Château of Bressieux. It shows him in pilgrim guise, holding aside his garments to show the bubo in his left groin. It is deeply incised, according to the surgical practice of the period.
The plague mark of St. Roch is depicted in a variety of forms. Sometimes it is simply a bubo in the groin, usually the left, or just below it, to satisfy artistic decency. This form may be seen in a picture by Crivelli (a.d. 1468-93) of ‘Four Saints’, in the Academy at Venice, and in another of St. Roch and St. Sebastian, by Alfani, in the Pinacotheca at Perugia.
Far more commonly the mark is a short longitudinal incision in the upper part of either thigh, as in Sodoma’s plague banner ([see Plate VIII, p. 100]).
Sometimes the incision is in the substance of a bubo. This may be seen in a portrait of St. Roch over a side-altar in the church of S. Maria dei Servi at Siena.
Not infrequently the incision is slanting or transverse and displays a complete disregard for the femoral artery. A notable example is Titian’s ‘St. Mark and Saints’ in the Salute at Venice ([see Plate IX, p. 102]).
Sometimes the hose is slit over the incision in the flesh, as though some bold and busy surgeon had been pressed for time. This may be seen in Caroto’s picture of ‘Four Saints’ in the church of S. Fermo Maggiore at Verona: also in a picture by Perugino, ‘Virgin and Saints,’ in the cathedral at Perugia, and in another of St. Roch in the Palazzo Borromeo at Milan.
A solitary example of St. Roch with a black pustule on the inner side of his left thigh, surrounded by a pink zone of inflammation, may be seen in the Brera. The picture is by Bernardino Borgognone (a.d. 1490-1524).
In some of the Pestblätter a gash in the thigh is shown as well as a small circle, which would seem to indicate the circular plague pustule.