Page:Archaeological Journal, Volume 29.djvu/143

 ANCIENT PORTRAITURES OF OUR LORD. 113 it to bo, is occupied by the following inscription, in six lines : — THIS PRESENT FIQVRE 13 THE SIMILITVDE OF OVR LORD hIn (sic for ifiv "?) ovre savior imprinted in amarild by THE predecessors OF THE CREATE TVRKE AND SENT TO THE POPE INNOSENT THE Vlll AT THE COST OF THE CRETE TVRKE FOR A TOKEN FOR THIS CAWSE TO REDEME HIS BROTHER THAT WAS TAKVN PRESONOR. After noticing the history of the captive Zemes, M. Courtet states, apparently on the authority of the owner of the painting, that it was given by the family of the Surintcndant Fouquet to Pierre llappc'lis de Roquesante, one of the Com- mission appointed to try Fouquet in 1661, and through his exertions sentence of exile not of death was passed : he refused all recompense from Fouquet except the painting and a medal ; the former, as was asserted, had been stolen from the Vatican, probably at the sack of Rome by Bourbon.® Of the medal no particulars are given ; it may have been one of those bearing the profile bust, with a Hebrew inscrip- tion, or of those of larger module, of which notices will be given hereafter. There is also another reproduction of the same type of the profile from the emerald, but slightly varied in the expres- sion of the countenance, the pose of the figure, and some other details. It is, moreover, not a painting, but a piece of tapestry that was in possession of the late Mr. ISamuel Bagster, the eminent publisher of many beautiful editions of the Holy Scriptures. It is familiar to collectors of engrav- ings by a striking mezzotiuto, i)ublislied some years since. Under the bust there is the following inscription, accom- panied by an English version, as follows : — " Vera Salvatoris nostri efligies ad imitationem imaginis Smaragdo incisa} jussu Tiberii Ca)saris, quo smaragdo postea ex Thesauro Constan- tinopolitano Turcarum Imperator Innocentium VIII. Pont. Max. Rom. donavit })ro rcdimciulo fratrc Christianis captive." This is accompanied by the following English version : — " A true likeness of our Saviour, copied from the portrait carved on an emerald by order of Tiberius Ciosar, which " The ebony frame in chased silver appropriated from the Collectioa of mounts might pupgest, as Mr. Kin^ re- Charles 1. at the Uevolution. marked to me, that the picture had been