Saint Julian (Carnesecchi Triptych)

What survives here is a fragment of a work that no longer exists whole. In the early 1420s the Carnesecchi family commissioned an altarpiece for their chapel in the church of Santa Maria Maggiore in Florence, and the young Masaccio worked on it alongside the older painter Masolino. It was one of the first times the two collaborated, at the very start of the short career in which Masaccio would help remake Italian painting. In the 17th century the altarpiece was taken apart and its panels scattered; its central Madonna was stolen in 1923 and has never been found. This figure of Saint Julian, Masolino's work, rediscovered in the 19th century in a country church outside Florence, is one of the few pieces that made it through.