2. Medieval Austrian and German Painting and Sculpture (12-16th c.)

The works form part of a series of seven small panels that depict the martyrdom and the miraculous finding of the grave of the medieval patron saints of Zurich. According to legend, Felix, his sister Regula and their servant Exuperantius fled from the slaughtered legion of Thebes. They converted people to Christianity in the region of Agaunum (St. Maurice) along the Rhône, where they then had to bear all sorts of torture for their Christian faith. They were beheaded and came to their final resting place holding their own heads. After a few centuries had passed, a stag lead the hunting Charles the Great to this place. He founded a monastery on this site, where today the Großmünster, the main church of the city stands. The stylistic ties of the unknown painter of the works are closest with Austria. A few of the pieces were acquired from Vienna, the others, from a village near Kassa (present-day Košice in Slovakia). Art historians have brought the pieces into connection with a painter known by the conventional name “Master of the Apostle Martyrdoms” and his workshop, which was active in Wiener Neustadt. In all probability, this master was responsible for the Winkler epitaph of 1477 in Wiener Neustadt. The works in Esztergom must have been executed somewhat later by a member of this workshop.