Saint Julian the Hospitaller - central compartment of a dismantled altarpiece, the predella depicting the life of Saint Julian, the top compartment depicting the Holy Spirit

According to De Voragine's Legenda Aurea, Saint Julian the Hospitaller was out hunting when a stag in the woods prophesied that he would kill his parents. To avoid this, he fled from home; his parents, who went looking for him, came to his house where his wife welcomed them and accommodated them in the marital bed. When Julian came home, on finding the bed occupied by two people, he believed his wife was being adulterous and killed his parents, leaving the sword lying in front of the bed. To atone for his crime, Julian set up a hospice by a ford where travellers could find refuge. He once ferried across the river a leper, dying of cold, to whom he gave his bed. The next day the leper was transformed into an angel, who announced that Julian, by his penitence, had been forgiven his crime.
For information on the artist see Fernando de Benito (ed.), Los Ribalta y la pintura Valenciana de su tiempo, Museo del Prado, December 1987- January 1988, pp.34-43.
We are grateful to G. Krebber of the RKD for her assistance in cataloguing the present lot.