Inscribed on the Virgin's robe, near her brow: stabat matre. On her hem a contraction of verse 3 in the Roman Missal: Quis est homo, qui non fleret/ Matrem Christi si videret/ In tanto supplicio?
This is the centre panel of a triptych painted for the church of St Columba, Cologne. The wings are in Liverpool (Walker Art Gallery), and show Christ before Pilate and The Deposition. When closed the triptych shows two donors kneeling on the right, observing the Mass of Saint Gregory, on the left.
Coats of arms identify the donors as Hermann Rinck (Mayor of Cologne in 1480 and 1488, died 1496) and his wife Gertrud von Dallem.
