Page:Archaeological Journal, Volume 29.djvu/140

 110 ANCIENT rOUTKAITURES OF UUR LOUD. is tliis particular type mentioned in Mrs. Jameson's " History of Our Lord," edited by Lady P^astlake, in ^vhic•ll so much valuable information will be found.^ It is very remarkable that no trace of the gift of so pre- cious an object as the icon should be found in the Avorks of contemporary authority, and in which we find the most ample relations of liajazet's projiitiatory gift of the Holy Lance to Innocent, and also of his annual largess to the Holy See in favour of his captive brother. To our learned and lamented fi'iend, Canon llock, I am indebted for the assurance that his researches had been wholly in vain. AVe find minute narrations by Ciacconius, and his laborious anno- tator Victorellus, of the august ceremonial on the reception of the " celestial lance." ^Matthew Bossus, Canon of Verona, an eye-witness of the pompous welcome accorded to Zenies, relates the minutest particulars, and describes the unsightly aspect and grotesque figure of the barbarian prince ; but no allusion has been found to the precious emerald, that could not fail, we might suppose, to excite the utmost veneration. The recent production, through the fricntlly courtesy of Sir Edmund H. Lechmere, Bart., of another example of these portraitures of our Lord, in unusually good preservation, has suggested to me to offer such incidental notices as I had formerly collected, and which may, I hojie, prove ser- viceable as supplementary to the memoir by Mr. King. To him, our valued guide and master in all the intricate ques- tions of ancient Iconography, the student of the incunabula of sacred art is indebted for the elucidation of the origin of the remarkable portraits in question, that seem undoubtedly to have been singularly esteemed and treasured in former days, as sliown by the numerous sei-cnito reproductions still exist- ing. It is to be regretted, however, that hitherto no exanjplo has been brought to our knowledge that can bo regarded as the immediate prototype, possibly by some renowned master of the Italian school, of the period when the ico)i on the j)recious emerald of Baja/et may have excited the veneration of the Eternal City at the close of the fifteenth century. The j)aintingab(ne mentioned, made known to us through the kindne.s.s of .Sir Edniund Lechmere, has been lonir in possession of his family in W'orcestei'shire, and is now ])i-e- •* V<.1. i. p. 31.