Saints Sebastian and Jerome, a fragment

The present lot, along with lots 6 and 7, is a fragment from a rare and early example of an altarpiece done in the 15th century on canvas (fig. 1). When exactly the painting was disassembled is not known; however, one can surmise it happened after the piece was sold in the famous Hearst sale at Gimbel Brothers in 1941.

Colonel Harry Stewart, the purchaser of the lot from the Gimbel's sale, was one of the early Texan collectors of Old Master paintings, and close friends with Algur H. Meadows, founder of the Meadows Museum at Southern Methodist University, Dallas.