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c. 1515

Saint Julian the Hospitaler Meeting His Wife after Killing His Parents

Upon encountering his wife, Julian realizes that the sleeping couple he has just found and killed in her bed was not her and a lover but his parents, whom he had not seen in many years. Julian later atones for his crime by building a hospital for the poor and by guiding travelers. The cult of Saint Julian was popular in Renaissance Florence because his feast day coincided with the annual celebration of the city's liberation from a despised government.

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Saint Julian the Hospitaler Meeting His Wife after Killing His Parents, c. 1515 | Philadelphia Art Museum