Saints Stephen and Maurice

Anton Woensam's paired panel of Saints Stephen and Maurice, dated around 1520 and held in the Bavarian State Painting Collections alongside the Saints Anno and Gregor the Moor, reflects the common altarpiece practice of presenting paired or grouped saints in complementary panels. Stephen — the first Christian martyr, a deacon stoned to death in Jerusalem — and Maurice — the African soldier-martyr of the Theban Legion — were both enormously important saints in the Cologne tradition, and their pairing would have had specific liturgical significance for the commissioning institution. Woensam's accomplished style made him the leading painter in Cologne's productive workshop culture.

Stephen and Maurice are presented as pendant figures in similar standing poses that read individually or as a coordinated pair, their attributes — stone and armour — carefully rendered. The Cologne palette is warm and jewel-like, consistent across the altarpiece series.