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This is a work of the Master of Mateoc King Carvings.
The parish church of Mateóc in Szepesség was dedicated to the memory of King Stephen (1000-1038), the founder of Hungary. The 15th-century painted triptych of the church is the only surviving memento showing scenes from the lives of St. Stephen and his son, St. Emericus. In addition to the religious veneration, the three male saints in the House of Arpád - Stephen, Emericus and Ladislas - also enjoyed another kind of admiration, profane and national in character. The fact that they were referred to as "Sancti Hungariae reges" (sacred kings of Hungary) and were depicted together indicates that they embodied the type of the ideal sovereign.
The aged and bearded "St. Stephen" possesses the most general traits of a sovereign, which in the case of this particular statue even resembles the representation of God. "St. Ladislas", who is portrayed at an age between the ages of the other two kings, is shown as a warrior wearing armour. The sculptures, which were made around 1500 and came complete with the figure of St. Emericus, originally must have decorated the middle section of a triptych. The carving technique used in fashioning the beard and the hair, and especially the cloak, reveals the influence of the sculptor Veit Stoss. The dancing step of St. Ladislas is in harmony with the type of portrayal fashionable around the 1480s, and can be traced back to the art of Gerhaert van Leyden.
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