St. Roch in Prison

Circa 1580-1620
Oil on wood
Wellcome Library, London

This is one segment of three segments of a predella, showing Roch being called to Heaven. The artist has taken a few liberties with the story. In the vita the lesion on his thigh had been cured long before his death, which was announced to him by an angel, not by Christ himself. The lesion thus functions solely as an attribute, like the walking staff, gourd, and dog.

The figures in the projecting panels are St. Lawrence on the left (gridiron and palm branch) and St. Paul on the right (sword).

According to the description at the Wellcome Library site, the left segment of the predella shows the saint's embarking from Montpellier on his pilgrimages, and the one in the center shows him appearing to patients in a hospital for plague victims.

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Source: Wellcome Images via this page at Wikimedia Commons.