Red Terror (Spain) on 25 July, feast day of St James, patron saint of Spain. August saw a further 2,077 clerical victims. After just two months of civil war, 3400 priests, monks and nuns had been murdered. According to recent research, some of the Republican death squads were heavily staffed by members of the Soviet Union's secret police, the NKVD. According to author Donald Rayfield, "Stalin, Yezhov, and Beria distrusted Soviet participants in the Spanish war. Military advisors like Vladimir Antonov-Ovseenko, journalists like Koltsov were open to infection by the heresies, especially Trotsky's, prevalent among the Republic's supporters. NKVD agents sent to Spain
The Vision of Saint Eustace the fact that Pisanello painted Saint Eustace in Sant'Anastasia. Saint Hubert’s depiction in Italian art during this period is also unlikely. Saint Eustace is portrayed as a huntsman dressed in the height of court fashion, wearing a golden tunic and blue headdress. The patron was therefore given the opportunity to appreciate the work as a devotional piece in addition to identifying with the aristocratic pastime of hunting and chivalric ideology. The patron for whom the work was painted is, however, unknown. Suggested patrons include the Gonzaga and Filippo Maria Visconti. Leonello or Borso d’Este, keen huntsmen, have also been proposed.