The small brown unidentified parcel that the postman delivered to Manhattan's Metropolitan Museum was carelessly wrapped and uninsured. When the wrinkled wrappings were removed, museum officials stared in wonder. The face painted on the old, 11½ by 8⅜ in. wooden panel was familiar, but it had not been around for a long time.
The painting, a 14th Century Sienese tempera of Saint Thomas the Apostle, believed the work of Simone Martini and valued at $3,000 to $5,000, had disappeared from the Museum's wall almost five years ago (TIME, April 3, 1944). The young saint in his fancy gold halo and blue-green cloak...
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