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Two double-sided panels, one depicting scenes from the life of St Agapitus of Praeneste, and another depicting scenes from the life of St Remigius (Remi), bishop of Reims, must originally have formed the folding wings of an altarpiece. The lost altarpiece probably had another pair of folding wings.
Saint Remigius (Remi or Rémy), was Bishop of Reims and Apostle of the Franks (c. 437-533 AD). On 25 December 496 he baptised Clovis I, King of the Franks. This baptism, leading to the conversion of the entire Frankish people to Catholic Christianity, was a momentous success for the Church and a seminal event in European history.
The first scene on this panel depicts an episode from the saint's life in which he caused a matron's empty barrel of wine to overflow by blessing it with the sign of the cross. The scene on the other side is a later event from Remigius's legend. Foreseeing a poor harvest, he filled a barn with a store of wheat, only to discover later that a group of drunken peasants set fire to the provisions.
Comparison with other existing panels from workshops in northern Switzerland indicates that the panels were originated in that region.
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