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136 NATURAL HISTORY OF GEMS.
for
the half-figures. A mighty recommendation for the substance as the
most appropriate vehicle for all such imagery, was the old tradition
that it owed its origin, to the stones lying under the Cross on Calvary, stained by the droppings of
the Saviour's blood on that day, and therefore converted into
imperishable monuments of his sufferings. The same reason gave it
favour with the artists of the Eevival, besides the more practical
recommendation that in their representations of crucifixions and
martyrdoms, the sanguine spots lent themselves readily to their skill
for expressing the blood-dripping wounds and lacerations of the
subject. According to Vasari, the first work that brought the greatest
artist of the age, Matteo del Nassaro, into notice was a Descent from
the Cross done in Bloodstone with so much art that the sanguine spots
exactly depicted the blood trickling from the wounds of the Saviour. It
was purchased by Isabella d'Esté, Duchess of Mantua.
The
material was, at the same time, greatly admired when worked into the
shape of vases ; a moderate-sized one selling for as much as 200
thalers. De Boot, who correctly defines the distinction between the
Heliotrope and the Bloodstone, speaks of the former as being brought
from India in blocks sufficiently large for sarcophagi, holding a
corpse, to be carved out of them ; adding that he had actually seen
such a sarcophagus placed behind the high altar in St. Donatius'
church, Bruges! What Jasper-like mineral can he possibly have in view ?
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