from the Golden Gate by the usual via triumphalis to the Hagia Sophia and afterwards to the palace chapel. We owe the minute description of these facts to a sermon which the learned Emperor Constantine Porphyrogennetos himself delivered, probably on August 16, 945 A.D., the next anniversary of the entrance of the holy portrait.3 The Holy Mandilion-i.e.,‘Kerchief,' as it was commonly called at Byzantium-was thus preserved in the royal chapel at the palace of Bukoleon as one of the most precious relics until, in 1204 A.D., it disappeared in the turmoil of the French invasion.

From that time three places claim the right of possessing the original picture. The Sainte Chapelle at Paris, erected in 1252 A.D. by King Saint Louis IX for the special purpose of safeguarding the relics acquired from Constantinople, seemed to many to have the best foundation for its claim. Unfortunately the greater part of this important collection, including the Sainte Face, as it was called there, was destroyed in the Revolution of 1789. Another copy, said to be the original, was for many centuries in the well-known church of San Silvestro in Capite at Rome, but was transferred in 1870 for safety to the Vatican Palace, where it is now preserved in the private chapel of the Pope. The third is at Genoa, in the chapel of the convent of San Bartolommeo degli Armeni, belonging now to the conBoth are gregation of the Barnabites.

almost inaccessible to art students.

I owe some information about the Roman picture to the kindness of Dr. Lapponi, the late Pope's physician. Its size, including a large silver frame, is I foot 8 inches by foot 2 inches. The frame, which is very heavy and adorned by pre

8 This sermon is published together with plenty of other sources in my book on the Likenesses of Christ,' where the reader will find full information about this and other miraculous portraits of our Saviour. (E. von Dobschütz, 'Christusbilder.' 1899. Leipzig: Hinrichs, Vol. III of Texte und Untersuchungen,' New Series.)

cious stones, was made in 1623 A.D. by Sordinora Larutia. It covers the greater

part of the picture, leaving free only the face, which is as large as life, and about 10 inches by 7 inches in size. Painted on dark ground and covered by glass, the face is by no means easily distinguished. With the help of electric light Dr. Lapponi succeeded in making out that it is a fine work of art the eyes are open, with thin chestnut brows; the forehead is broad, the nose long and straight, the mouth small and surrounded by a moustache and a beard.

For the present one may obtain some idea of the original by studying a copy preserved in the museum at Treves, or the drawing by Heaphy which is reproduced here. Another copy can be seen in Wilhelm Grimm's remarkable treatise, 'The Legends of the Origin of the Likenesses of Christ' (Berlin, 1872). Grimm designates a certain number of pictures as copies from the Genoese. But, as I have proved elsewhere, he is wrong in doing so as regards the little picture in the University Library of Jena. And his proposition is disproved also in the case of his own copy by the picture at Treves. The two faces being nearly identical, the inscription surrounding the latter must be true also for Grimm's picture, and this inscription runs as follows:- A Likeness of Our Saviour Jesus Christ being a copy of that one which he sent to Abagarus (sic!), which is preserved at Rome in the monastery of St. Silvester.'

The Genoese picture, Heaphy's drawing of which is also reproduced, is in a shrine which cannot be opened except with eight keys in possession of eight different magistrates and noble families. Like the Veronica of Saint Peter at Rome, it is shown publicly only once a year, on Ascension Day. As we have noticed already in the case of the Roman picture, only a small part of the original

4 Plate II, page 523.

painting is visible, all the rest being covered by a silver plate, as is the custom with Byzantine and Russian sacred images. What can be seen is a face of very dark colour, almost as dark, in fact, as the Roman picture described just above; the large open eyes, the straight nose, the somewhat austere mouth, do not correspond to our ideal of beauty, kindness, or loveliness; it is the severe Byzantine type, expressing divine majesty rather than love and humility. The impression, it is true, suffers from the curious shape of the incasing plate, which defines three unequal points of the beard. The plate is highly ornamented in silver filigree, together with three little golden pieces of different design, which constitute a cruciform nimbus. In the upper corners the name IX (Jesus Christ) is inscribed, and the popular name ΤΟ ΑΓΙΟΝ ΜΑΝΔΗΛΙΟΝ is written underneath it.

The most important features are ten little square enamel paintings, set in the border of the silver plate, bearing each an inscription in bad Greek characters. Commencing at the upper left-hand corner and following to the right to the fifth square, then recommencing on the left side under the first, and ending at the lower righthand corner, they represent the legend of the holy Likeness of Christ in the form given by the Emperor Constantine Porphyrogennetos as above mentioned. First we see King Abgarus lying on his bed of sickness giving his servant a letter to be brought to Christ. The second shows the messenger endeavouring to paint a portrait of Christ, who stands before him. In the third Christ is offered a napkin to moisten His face. The fourth represents Christ giving the napkin imprinted with Then His likeness to the messenger. follows the fifth, showing Abgarus sitting on his couch, holding with both hands the imprinted napkin towards him, while the messenger relates the miraculous origin of

the picture. When we turn to the left, we see on the sixth Abgarus, followed by his servant, throwing down from one pillar the idol which has been erected on the top of the gate, and putting up on the other pillar the Likeness of Christ. In the seventh square the picture is hidden by the bishop, who climbs to the top of the pillar by means of a ladder, holding a large tile to cover the niche. Number eight shows the bishop who rediscovered the portrait fetching it down from the pillar, while his acolyte stands waiting. In the ninth the bishop throws oil out of the vessel which stood before the holy Face into the flames in which the Persians perish. The tenth gives a scene from the transfer of the picture from Edessa to Constantinople at the crossing of the Euphrates the ship bearing the clergy and the holy Likeness passes without helm or oars; the man who stands on the river bank one would assume to be a representative of the people of Edessa, who are distressed by the loss of the sacred palladium of their city, were it not indicated by the inscription that he represents a demoniac, who is healed by the sight of the holy Face, two scenes thus being joined in this one square.

The mode of representation in these little pictures, by simple indication of the chief figures and action, reminds one of ancient Christian art as preserved in the Byzantine examples and up to the later part of the middle ages.

It may be that this series was created by an artist soon after 944 A.D. We have, however, no evidence that the Genoese picture and the decoration of the frame are not of a later origin. Unfortunately, there is no means of ascertaining whether or not the same little pictures are painted on the wood tablet now covered by the silver frame.

Now there is a picture, very different at the first glance, but representing the same subject, in the possession of His Majesty King Edward VII, which hangs outside the