The inscription at the bottom of this panel tells us that it was commissioned by Johann Rudolf Hoffman, appointed lieutenant in Rorschach on the Bodensee, canton St. Gallen in Switzerland in 1670. However, we can determine that this inscription was inserted some 40 years after the panel was painted and constructed. This was not an unusual practice as these stained glass panels were passed down within families or given away later as gifts. It is possible that Johann Hoffman was related to the original donor of the panel but we will never know if this was the case. Unlike similar commissioned panels of the 17th century, this does not bear the original donor’s, nor Hofmann's, coat of arms. It can be supposed that his arms of office had not yet been granted. The arms that are depicted on this panel, two small roundels on the windows behind the central, seated, figure are those of the Fugger family, bankers of Augsburg in southern Germany. The Fuggers had amassed an astounding amount of wealth through their banking business and mercantile endeavours and bankrolled the Holy Roman Emperor in the 15th and 16th centuries.

The imagery on this panel is complex. It is a type of ‘Vanitas’ or ‘Momento Mori’ – ‘be mindful of your death’. These moralising images were intended to instruct and to remind viewers of the vanities of earthly life and to concentrate on making a good life on earth in preparation for ultimate salvation in heaven. These were popular images in the 17th century.

The top of the panel shows God the Father in Heaven with Jesus Christ and the Virgin Mary kneeling, with the inscription, in Latin, ‘Deus Omnia Videt’ (‘God Sees All’). Above this in a cartouche is the inscription ‘Fides et Spes Mea in Christo’ (‘My faith and hope in Christ’). Faith and Hope are personified at the bottom of the panel. Faith is on our left holding a chalice with wafer, a crucifix and an open book at her feet bearing the words ‘Verbum Dei’ (the word of God). Hope is on our right and holds an anchor and a rosary.

The central scene shows a young man seated at a table with a portable desk in front of him. He is surrounded with various emblems that represent earthly matters – a viol, lute, terrestrial globe, dividers, an hour glass. On either side of him there is an angel and a well-dressed woman, representing female pleasure, who are vying for his attention. There is an inscription on the table cloth – ‘Respice finem’ which may be translated as ‘Consider the end’. The seated man, head resting in one hand, is lost in thought.

In front of this table there is a skeletal figure representing Death. Below its feet are grave digging tools and it draws back a bow and arrow aimed at the young man. On the opposite side the devil thrusts a sword of fire towards the man; below his feet is the mouth of hell with the damned writhing in agony.

The message is clear – consider not the earthly trappings of this world but that of the blessings of heaven. What is not so clear is whether there is a personal connection with the original donor and the Fugger family or even if there is a point being made against the Fugger family. It is also possible that by this time the Fuggers have become synonymous with earthly greed and the sin of avarice.