The Town Council of Kőszeg adopted a decision at a meeting on 30 August 1746 that a votive plaque should be prepared. The cattle plague, appearing in the 18th century and devastating Europe, also decimated the western part of Hungary despite all the measures taken by the authorities and, in desperation, the town asked for St Wendel’s help.

The painting is significant because, based on our present knowledge, this is the earliest depiction St Wendel and St Leonard shown together. The painter, Valentin Fancz, arrived in Kőszeg from Vienna and to earn his citizenship that otherwise would have cost him 50 Forints, he did a few assignments as a painter.
He painted the Calvary chapel and was also involved in the reconstruction works of the Church of St Emeric.
He was commissioned to prepare Kőszeg’s landscape in 1746. The chronogram at the bottom of the painting commended he town of Kőszeg to the protection of the Virgin Mary of Rattersdorf, St Wendel and St Leonard and save the residents from the cattle plague.

The landscape format painting depicts a very detailed and authentic presentation of the contemporary city, which was confirmed by later research. Over the town the Virgin Mary is depicted with baby Jesus in the centre flanked by two saints. St Wendel is shown here on his knees, with his hands lifted in prayer; he also has a haversack and a bishop’s crook. St Leonard, opposite him, is depicted in a Benedictine robe, with chains in his hands, and with the insignia of the rejected bishopric, a bishop’s mitre at his feet and clutching an ornamented bishop’s crook.

The painting was taken to the church of Rattersdorf and we have no information as to when it was returned to the great assembly room of Kőszeg’s Town Hall. The picture is known to have remained here until December 1943 when it was handed over to the museum (founded in 1932).

The painting has been preserved by the museum ever since; currently visitors can take a look at it at an exhibition staged in the Castle of Kőszeg.