Memorial tablet, Master of the Spes Nostra, c. 1500
This ‘memorial tablet’ was painted in commemoration of the four canons depicted on it. The partially decayed corpse in the open tomb reminds the viewer of his own mortality and asks for his prayers: ‘Whoever passes by, look and weep. What you are, I once was, what I am, you will become, I beseech you to pray for me’.