Head of St. Roch

St. Roch was a 14th-century pilgrim (the crossed papal keys on his hat symbolize his trip to Rome) who died from the plague, becoming the patron saint of sickness. This simple yet moving representation communicates the pathos of pain through a series of curves and counter-curves. The shallow arc of his hat repeats the downward turn of his mouth, and is echoed yet again in the arch of his eyebrows. The crescent-shaped slits of his open eyes repeat the curved flesh of his upper cheeks in contrast to the inverted bowed forms on the rest of his face.