South German school, ca. 1500.

South German school, ca. 1500.
"St. Florian".
Sculpture in linden wood.
Measurements: 89 x 25 x 14 cm.

Renaissance carving of Germanic school. It represents St. Florian, wearing an aristocratic cap and a long cape that has been worked with excellent drapery. The broken folds follow one after the other, naturally adapting to the movement of the body, falling with harmonic cadence around the left knee slightly forward. The cape opens to reveal the Roman soldier's breastplate, a piece of clothing that identifies this saint. The kinky hair has been carefully worked curl by curl with the burin. The countenance, with a mature expression, transmits wisdom. The sculpture presents a half-bulk carving, since it was originally intended for a frontal view, the rear part being used as a reliquary or niche.

Florian of Lorch (late 3rd - early 4th century) is the patron saint of Poland and also of the Austrian city of Linz. He was commander of the imperial army of Bavaria, being also responsible for the fire departments. At a time when the Romans were fighting against the spread of Christianity, the consul Aquilinus was sent to Bavaria to accelerate the persecution of the Christians. He proposed to Florian to offer a sacrifice to a Roman divinity to which the saint, being a Christian, refused. He was then persecuted and tortured, and finally thrown into the river Enns with a large stone tied around his neck. The best known story of his biography is the one in which it is narrated that he stopped a fire by throwing a simple bucket of water on the fire.