The legend of St Veronica who gave Christ a cloth to wipe the sweat from his brow on his way to Golgotha, emerged around 1300. An impression of Christ’s bloodstained face was left on the cloth. The sudarium became one of the most important relics in Christianity. When displayed in St Peter’s in Rome it drew hundreds of thousands of pilgrims. Hymns and prayers were written as well as pictorial depictions created. This painting is an especially elaborate example that gave the unknown painter his name of convenience.