FROM ACRE TO NAZARETH. 143 
The Jirsty namely, that which was found m ^^^^^• 
two pieces upon the altar % represents the*—/—' 
interior of an apartment, with two aged persons 
seated at table. A young person is represented 
as coming into the house, and approaching the 
table. A circular symbol of sanctity surrounds 
the heads of all of them; and the picture, 
according to the most antient style of painting, 
is executed upon a golden back-ground. The 
(2) Having presented thU picture to the Rev. T. Kerrich, Principal 
Librarian of the University of Cambridge, exactly as it was found 
upon the altar of the Church of Seplwurt/, that gentleman, well known 
for the attention he has paid to the history of antient painting, 
has, at the author's request, kindly communicated the following result 
of his observations upon the subject. 
" This antient picture is on cloth, pasted upon wood, and appears 
to be painted in water-colours upon a priming of chalk, and then 
varnished, in the manner taught by T/ieopkilus *, an author w ho is 
supposed to have lived as early as the tenth century f. 
" It is a fragment, and nearly one-fourth part of it seems to be lost. 
Three persons, who, by the Nimbus or Glory about the head of each, 
must be all Saints, are at a table, on which are radishes or some other 
roots, bread, &c. Two of the figures are sitting ; and one of them 
holds a gold vessel, of a particular form, with an ear ; the other a 
gold cup, with red liquor in it : the third appears to be speaking, and 
points up to heaven. 
" The Glories, and some other parts of the picture, are gilt, as the 
whole of the back-ground certainly was originally. 
" It is undoubtedly a great curiosity, and very antient, although it 
may be extremely difBcu't to fix its date with any degree of accuracy. 
From the style I cannot conclude any thing, as I never saw any other 
picture like it ; but there is nothing in the architecture represented 
in it to induce us to suppose it can be later than the end of the 
eleventh century ; and it may be a great deal older." 
" See iJa^pe's Essay on Oil-Painthig, p. 68, and 87. 4to. Lond. ilb\. 
t Page 46 of the same book. 
