St Roch in carved polychrome wood, 18th century

Charming polychrome group, from the 18th century, carved in the round representing Saint Roch, resting on a very pretty base decorated with coves and scroll sculptures in the corners.
All the iconographic attributes of the Saint are grouped together on this sculpture:
The Saint stands leaning on his staff and in a pilgrim's habit (hat, cape, boots, gourd...).
The garment slightly rolled up on his right leg reveals a plague bubo on the thigh that an angel, here, shows with his index finger. He is accompanied by a dog holding a piece of bread in its mouth.
The legend says that Saint Roch stricken with the plague, and in order not to risk spreading the contagion, retired to the depths of the woods, where he was fed by the dog of a lord who brought him bread stolen from the table every day. of his master. He will also be cared for by an angel.
Saint Roch is, among other corporations, the protector of the medical professions, animals, street pavers, carders, farmers and land workers...

Dimensions
H. 63.5 cm x W. 19 cm x D. 17 cm
France
18th century

Our wink
The pilgrim's staff, also called "bourdon", has been a major attribute of the pilgrim since the Middle Ages.
This stick was originally smaller than the walker, then later it will be represented larger than him.
In the Cortex Calixtinus (manuscript of around 1140 established in honor of Saint James to promote the pilgrimage to Compostela) the two main functions of the bumblebee are evoked: to help in walking and to defend the pilgrim "against the wolf and the dog".
Symbolically the pilgrim's staff is also the "staff of hope", the weapon of salvation against the snares of the devil through penance.